


Namco Adventures

by aguyofmanythings



Category: The Loud House (Cartoon)
Genre: Arcade Gaming, F/M, Namco - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:21:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 19,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27257848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aguyofmanythings/pseuds/aguyofmanythings
Summary: Jackie and her OC boyfriend Gus Wilde are pulled into the world of Namco, and have to complete challenges in 15 games to get out! By LoudHarveyLefty and yours truly!
Relationships: Jackie/Gus
Kudos: 1





	1. Trapped!

**Author's Note:**

> This story was pitched to TheLoudArtist15, and he and I decided to co-write it! I hope you enjoy!

Arcades, the place where children and teenagers play the classic arcade games of the 1980's as well as a few recent games. It is a way for some youngsters to escape the torture that is school in order to have some fun. Just insert a quarter or two and get into the game, and there! You've officially escaped from reality! However, one cannot spend a lot of time playing the games as others would like to play it as well. Arcades are public places after all. Sadly, all fun must come to an end, and people will have to return to the sad world that is reality. Same goes for arcades; however, one can return to the fun another time.

At a certain arcade somewhere in downtown Royal Woods, two people have arrived. Their names are Gus and Jackie. Both look around and see many children of varying ages playing arcade games and having fun. Gus has an elated expression on his face as he cannot wait to play the games. Jackie, on the other hand, did not seem to be very thrilled about playing some games as she isn't usually into gaming.

"Gusie," Jackie speaks, "explain to me again why you brought me to the arcade?"

"Because," Gus goes on to explain, "I want to see how well we play as a couple! I've been waiting ever since we started dating to do this! You and me as the best gamers in the arcade!"

"More like you're the best gamer, and I'm the best yawner," Jackie snarked.

"C'mon, Jacks!" Gus gently punched her arm. "It'll be fun! Just think of this! You and I… fighting 8-bit zombies as well as battling digitized spaceships!"

"Borning." Jackie rolled her eyes.

Gus sighs in defeat. "Let's just look for a game to play."

"Okay, but if I'm bored to death, then you owe me a pedicure."

The couple then goes to search for a game to play. Unfortunately for them, all of the cabinets are occupied by other gamers. Everywhere they go, there are children and teens playing the cabinets.

"Jeez, this arcade must be popular. Almost everyone is playing the games," said Gus.

Suddenly, he notices an arcade cabinet that is the only one that has no gamers playing it. The arcade looked very new as if it had just arrived earlier today. The design of the cabinet made it stand out from the rest of the cabinets. Its shape is that of a rectangular prism like the other cabinets, but it is wider than the others. There is also a huge black screen the size of a big-screen television. Above the screen is a logo that states "Namco" painted in white and in an 8-bit style. On the sides of the cabinet are the characters from the Namco games of the 1980's ranging from Pac-Man to Galaga.

"Finally! An unoccupied game!" Gus exclaimed in relief as he ran towards. Jackie, with another eye roll, followed him.

Gus takes a closer look at the cabinet, realizing that he had never seen it before.

"Huh. That's funny. I've never seen this cabinet before. Must be new."

"Phew! Thank goodness I didn't have to waste time waiting to play a game that would be another waste of time," Jackie told herself.

Gus pulls out his quarter and inserts it into the cabinet. After about a second, a white screen appears. Gus waits for some logos of the game companies to appear, but none did. The white screen remained for about a minute.

"Huh. Nothing's happening," stated Gus.

"Is it broken?" asked Jackie.

"I think so."

"Welp. That was a bust… and a waste of my time."

All of a sudden, the white screen began flashing, startling Gus and Jackie. The screen flashed faster and faster before shining brightly, blinding both children. Then, a portal appears on the screen and begins sucking in small particles. Soon, it becomes strong enough to suck Gus.

"JACKIE!" Gus yelled for help as he held on to the sides of the screen for dear life.

"GUSIE!" Jackie ran towards the cabinet and grabbed his hand, trying her hardest to pull him away from the portal. Unfortunately for both, the portal was too strong for them, and soon, they are both sucked in. Finally, the portal disappears, and the cabinet shuts down.

Gus and Jackie fall down through some dark void. All they can see other than themselves is pitch black. After what seem like a long fall, they land on what seemed to be hard floor, but it was hard to tell due to the darkness.

"Jackie, you okay?" asked Gus.

"Yes I'm fine," replied Jackie. She looks around her surroundings, but she can only see obscurity. "Where the heck are we?"

"I don't know. It's all pitch black here."

Suddenly, lights start turning on where Jackie and Gus are currently standing, startling them. They watch the lights light up what seems to be a path. The lights continue turning on until they light up what seems to be a digitized royal chair with some sort of 8-bit-looking entity sitting on it. The entity is wearing a hat that looks exactly like one of the spaceships from Galaga. The remainder of its body is covered by an 8-bit blue cape with marking of the most popular Namco characters.

Scared, Jackie clings onto Gus, not knowing what would happen. The entity then stands up from his chair and slowly began approaching the frightened couple.

As the entity is close enough, he greets them with, "Greetings, young players."

Gus and Jackie remain silent, not knowing what to say.

"Do not be afraid, my children. I have no intention of inflicting harm."

"W-w-who are you?" Jackie questioned.

"I am the Namcoator, an entity in charge of the classic Namco games of the 1980's," the entity introduced itself.

"Nice to meet you, dude," said Gus. "And since you seem to know about this place, can you please tell us how to get out?"

"I'm glad you asked, fellow young one," said the Namcoator. "The only way to leave this place is if you become Namco masters."

"And how do we become these... Namco masters?" asked Jackie.

"By completing all fifteen classic Namco games of the 1980's."

"Really? Pfft! That sounds so simple!" Gus scoffed.

Jackie rolls her eyes once more.

"It seems you accept the challenge." Namcoator then proceeds to snap his fingers. "Now brace yourselves for the first level of the first game."

Suddenly, Gus and Jackie begin dissolving into 8-bit pixels, and they soon disappear.


	2. Pac-Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: This chapter originally looked VERY different. Both Gus and Jackie were in the maze and they only had to complete one stage. And it was much shorter. This final version was remade in accordance with my original plan for the fanfic. With that, I hope you enjoy!

1UP HIGH SCORE 2UP

00 

CHARACTER / NICKNAME

ᗣ - SHADOW "BLINKY"

ᗣ - SPEEDY "PINKY"

ᗣ - BASHFUL "INKY"

ᗣ - POKEY "CLYDE"

O ᗤᗣᗣᗣᗣ

• 10 PTS

O 50 PTS

© 1980 MIDWAY MFG. CO.

CREDIT 0 

* * *

We open to see what seems to be a hallway. The floor of this hallway is jet black, as is the ceiling. The walls have two electric blue stripes at the top and bottom, and the centre is also black. The stripes give off an electric blue glow that illuminates the hallway. We see a set of pixels flow into the hallway, and they begin swirling around and assembling into something. A set of legs appears first, followed by a torso, a pair of arms and a head with blonde hair. Of course, this is none other than our good friend Gus Wilde. Initially, he is reassembled with his eyes closed, but soon enough they slowly open. Jackie's boyfriend then takes a second to survey his surroundings.

"Where am I?" he mutters to himself.

* * *

Cutting to a different room, we see the Namcoator seated at a large monitor. On this monitor, the maze from the original Pac-Man is displayed, with Gus at Pac-Man's typical starting location. Another group of pixels flows into this room and reassembled into another person, this one having darker skin and a yellow dress. As soon as Jackie Johnson has reassembled, she opens her own eyes and looks around and sees the Namcoator seated at the monitor

"Where am I?" she asks the Namcoator. "Why am I not with Gusie?"

"Young player, since most of the classic Namco games of the 1980s were single-player, I cannot have both of you in there at the same time. For the original _Pac-Man_ , I have decided that Gus will undertake this challenge. You may watch him if you like." The Namcoator snaps his fingers and another seat appears next to him. He pats the seat, prompting Jackie to hop up and sit down.

Seeming satisfied, the Namcoator grabs a microphone and begins talking into it.

* * *

Back in the maze, Gus suddenly hears the Namcoator's voice come in over what seems like an intercom.

"Young player, this is the Pac-Man challenge. I'm sure you already know the basics of Pac-Man, yes?"

"Of course! Who hasn't?" Gus questions.

"You are in the maze from the original _Pac-Man_. Your goal is to clear 15 mazes."

"That sounds like… a lot." says Gus.

"I know, which is why I am going to be a bit forgiving. If you get a game over, you will only have to restart the maze you are on, not the whole game."

"Okay then. Thanks."

"No problem, player. Default DIP switch settings are active: you start with 3 lives, and bonus life is awarded at 10,000 points. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Very well."

The Pac-Man game start noise plays. The pellets appear around Gus, each having a soft white glow.

GUS WILDE - READY!

Gus hears the ghosts' humming, indicating that they are now in play. Turning to his left, he grabs one of the pellets and eats it.

"Hm. Minty."

Continuing down the left corridor until he reaches the wall at the end, he looks over his left shoulder to check if the ghosts are following him. Only Blinky and Pinky are out of the ghost house at the moment, and they are in scatter mode so they are only heading off to patrol their corners of the maze.

"Ok, so they're not following me. Good."

Gus proceeds down the corner of the maze before clearing out the long hallway at the bottom. He wraps around and clears out the area around the half-cross at the bottom right, just as Inky leaves the ghost house and goes into chase mode along with Blinky and Pinky.

"Oh gee. This is going to get trickier."

Gus clears away the other half-cross. Deciding not to take any chances, he turns up away from the ghosts and proceeds upwards. Passing by the corridor where the bonus symbols spawn, Gus notices that a cherry has spawned. "Don't mind if I do!" he whispers as he proceeds down the corridor and snags the cherry for 100 points.

He then turns down to finish clearing out the bottom right-hand corner (nearly getting caught by Pinky in the process). Having nearly finished clearing out the bottom-right corner of the maze, a thought springs into Gus's mind.

"What do the ghosts taste like?"

As Clyde is leaving the ghost house Gus hurries down the bend leading to one of the energisers, a large flashing white orb. Grabbing it, Gus chomps it down.

In an instant, the ghosts all turn the same shade of blue, are given a white jagged mouth and reverse direction, indicating they are vulnerable. "Time for the main course…" Gus chuckles.

He continues down the bend, where the direction reversal has also led Blinky and Inky. He turns around and manages to capture Blinky (who tastes like strawberries) and Inky (who tastes like blueberries) in quick succession, netting him 600 points.

"Delicious!" Gus exclaims as he continues chasing Pinky down the hallway she is moving through. Soon enough he catches up to her and pounces on her, netting him 800 points as a bubblegum taste fills his mouth.

Knowing that Blinky and Inky have almost reached the ghost house to be regenerated, Gus decides it would be too risky to pass by the entrance, lest he risk Blinky capturing him. He turns around and loops around the wall to his left and then passes through the fruit corridor. He sees that while Clyde is still blue, Blinky is also following Clyde, and since Clyde is slowed down any attempt to capture him would be risky.

* * *

In the room where the Namcoator is monitoring the situation, Jackie watches anxiously as Gus approaches Clyde. Soon enough the red-clad boy intercepts the scared ghost, albeit with Blinky VERY close by. To Jackie's surprise and relief, Gus doesn't actually get captured, and he quickly manages to put some distance between him and the ghosts.

"Oh, phew…" Jackie sighs in relief as she watches this unfold.

"Even if Blinky were a titsy bit closer, Gus probably wouldn't have died. _Pac-Man_ doesn't consider you to have been captured until the centre of the ghost's sprite is less than 8 pixels away from the centre of Pac-Man's sprite." explains the Namcoator.

"So you can slightly intersect a ghost and not die?" Jackie extrapolates.

"Pretty much."

"Huh. Today I learned." Jackie then turns back to the monitor as she watches Gus consume another energiser and capture all of the ghosts again. He is now in the top half of the maze and his score currently stands at 7,680 points.

"Go, go, Gusie!" Jackie silently cheers.

* * *

After capturing Clyde again, Gus spins 180 degrees and continues in the direction of the third energiser. Narrowly dodging getting captured by Blinky and Inky, Gus manages to gobble down the energiser and then quickly consumes Blinky, Inky and Pinky. "Man, I'm on a roll!" He quickly finishes off the pellets in the top-left corner of the maze before chasing Clyde again. Clyde begins flashing white to warn he's about to turn dangerous again, but Gus manages to reach him in time and consume him, scoring 1,600 points. This pushes Gus above the 10,000 point threshold needed for an extra life, and a dinging noise rings out.

"Extra life! Nice!" thinks Gus.

Ducking down the maze to eat the second bonus cherry, Gus returns to the top half. The humming has now sped up. Gus turns and begins to clear out the top-right corner, followed closely by Pinky and Inky. The pellet-munching does slow Gus down, but thankfully just before Pinky can intersect him enough to kill him he reaches the final energiser and eats it, turning around to capture Pinky and Inky, followed by Blinky, and finally Clyde. After clearing out the second of two paths above the ghost house, he turns around and clears out the pellets in the top-right corner of the maze, followed by a few he missed in the top-left corner.

"Last one!" Gus exclaims happily.

Gus eventually reaches the final pellet and eats it. The ghosts abruptly freeze in their tracks. Then they disappear and the blue markings on the maze walls begin flashing white, signaling that Gus has cleared the maze.

"Yes!" Gus fistbumps the air in celebration. Then, the Namcoator's voice comes in again over the intercom.

"Well done, young player. You have managed to clear the cherry maze. You shall now advance to the strawberry maze."

Gus's vision turns black for a second. Soon enough he finds himself back at the maze's starting point, the pellets having been reset. Smirking, Gus sets off to complete the strawberry maze.

* * *

**INTERMISSION ONE:**

Gus appears from the right being chased by Blinky. The ghost chases Jackie's boyfriend off-screen. A few seconds later, Blinky reappears from the left, now blue and vulnerable. Much to his misfortune he is being chased by a Gus who has somehow tripled in size. "Come here, ghostie!" Gus chuckles as he chases Blinky off-screen.

**INTERMISSION TWO:**

Gus appears from the right, chased by Blinky. This time there is a nail sticking out of the floor where the two are crossing. While Gus easily passes by it, Blinky's sheet gets caught on it, and the corner tears off. Blinky stops chasing Gus, looks at the nail, and rolls his eyes.

**INTERMISSION THREE:**

Gus appears from the right, being chased by Blinky, who has visibly used white thread to repair his sheet. The ghost chases Jackie's boyfriend off-screen. A few seconds later Blinky reappears, now visibly disrobed and dragging his sheet on the ground behind him, allowing the viewer to see his peach, slug-like body. Blinky drags himself off-screen.

* * *

Gus knows he is almost done. He may have lost nine or so lives and gotten a couple of game overs, but he is now on the third key maze, the final one he has to complete. He is now clearing out the final corridor of pellets, Pinky hot on his tail. Worried that he might get caught, he focuses all his efforts on eating the pellets. Eventually he reaches the final one and manages to gobble it down just milliseconds before Pinky makes contact with him. She stops. The walls flash white.

"OH YEAH, OH YEAH! WHO'S THE MAN! I'M THE MAN!" Gus yells in delight as he punches the air. He soon hears the Namcoator's voice come in over the intercom again.

"Well done, young player! You have managed to clear all 15 mazes, and with that you have cleared the _Pac-Man_ challenge! I have a prize waiting for you, so allow me to return you from the maze!"

Gus hears the Namocator snap his fingers, and the boy dissolves into a flurry of pixels which soon disappear.

* * *

Gus reassembles in the room where the Namcoator and Jackie are sitting. Upon seeing Gus Jackie runs over to him and hugs him.

"Oh Gusie! You did amazing out there!" Jackie exclaims.

"I know." says Gus. "That looked like fun, didn't it Jackie?"

"I may not be into gaming like you, but yes, that did look fun. Still doesn't mean I'm into games though..." states Jackie.

"Aw man…" Gus mutters.


	3. Ms. Pac-Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that the text rendition of the Pac-Man attract screen was pretty cool, but I won't be able to do it for the other games because of text editing limitations.

The Namcoator smiles. "Young player, I have your prize here." Gus releases Jackie and turns towards the Namcoator as he reaches behind his back. After rummaging for two seconds, the Namcoator reveals Gus's prize: a golden trophy of Pac-Man himself.

"Cool!" Gus takes the trophy from the Namcoator and inspects it. "This is awesome!" Jackie smiles.

The Namcoator then turns to Jackie. "Now then. The second challenge is the _Ms. Pac-Man_ challenge. You, Jackie Johnson, shall be undertaking this challenge."

"Hold on." states Jackie. "Am I just going to be doing the same thing as Gusie?"

"Not quite." explains the Namcoator. "Since _Ms. Pac-Man_ was created as a sequel to _Pac-Man_ , there will be a few differences between the challenges. You shall experience them as you complete the challenge. Now then, I believe it is time for the challenge to begin." The Namcoator snaps his fingers and Jackie dissolves into a flurry of pixels that race away.

* * *

We cut to a hallway, similar to the ones found in the _Pac-Man_ challenge. This hallway, however, is much different in colouration. The two stripes that were electric blue are now red, and the space between them is a pink colour. Jackie's pixels flurry into the hallway before reassembling. She checks herself to see if her dress got ruined, and thankfully nothing has happened to it.

* * *

Seeing this, the Namcoator turns to the monitor where the _Pac-Man_ maze is displayed and presses a button on the console in front of the monitor, causing the display to switch to the first of _Ms. Pac-Man_ 's four mazes, with Jackie at Ms. Pac-Man's starting point. He grabs the microphone.

* * *

"Young player, welcome to the _Ms. Pac-Man_ challenge. I'm sure watching Gus has given you a basic understanding of what to do, yes?"

"Of course." replied Jackie.

"Like the Pac-Man challenge, your goal is to clear 15 mazes. Don't worry about getting a game over - like with Gus you will only have to restart the maze you are on, not the game. I might as well state that this will be the case for all the challenges, to avoid repeating myself."

"Understood."

"The DIP switch settings are as follows: 3 lives, and bonus life awarded at 10,000 points. Shall we begin?"

Jackie sighs. "Of course."

"How long is this going to take?" she thinks to herself.

The Ms. Pac-Man game start noise plays.

JACKIE JOHNSON - READY!

The ghosts' humming reaches Jackie's ears. She turns to her left and begins consuming the pellets in the hallway leading left from her starting position before turning up at an intersection. She goes left, down, right.

"Where are the ghosts? Honestly, I would have expected to have seen at least one by now… I really should be shooting for my latest commercial, not be running around a maze..." Jackie thinks.

The humming grows louder, alerting Jackie they are close, so she hurries down the side of the bottom-left rectangle before turning right and clearing the bend. At the bend's entrance she sees Blinky out of the corner of her eye, so she quickly dashes to the right, barely avoiding getting caught by him and Pinky, and then she turns up and ducks through one of the side-tunnels. As Pinky enters she is slowed down, giving Jackie the distance she needs.

Arriving at the other side of the tunnel Jackie next clears out the hallway on the left side of the maze before proceeding through the other side tunnel. Arriving at the right side of the maze Jackie notices that a cherry has spawned, but unlike Gus's this one is moving. "Why not…" she thinks.

"So that was one of the differences the Namcoator was talking about…" Jackie mutters to herself. She chases down the cherry, but just before she can catch it Blinky appears in her path. Thankfully Jackie is able to turn around and dash away from him in time. "That was close… way too close." she thinks. "I'll have to herd the ghosts away if I want that cherry…"

Jackie proceeds down a bend to the bottom of the maze to lure Blinky, Pinky and Inky there. Barely avoiding getting caught by Pinky, she then proceeds back up towards the cherry (being careful to avoid colliding with Sue) and manages to catch it and consume it, scoring 100 points.

Jackie loops around to the right side of the maze with Blinky, Pinky and Inky still on her tail. "Might as well try out ghost eating whilst I'm stuck here..." she ponders, proceeding down the hallway. Soon enough she reached the energiser, pausing for a second for the ghosts to get closer.

CHOMP!

All the ghosts instantly reverse and turn blue and vulnerable, as Jackie turns around to eat them.

She catches up with Blinky fist. CHOMP! 200 points.

Inky follows shortly afterwards. CHOMP! 400 points.

Pinky is a short distance away, but it doesn't really matter. CHOMP! 800 points.

Jackie then turns a corner to capture Sue. CHOMP! 1,600 points.

* * *

Gus watches the monitor as Jackie finishes clearing the lower-right corner of the maze and then ducks through the lower side-tunnel.

"Jackie said she didn't really like games, yet look at her go!" exclaims Gus.

He sees Jackie emerge from the side tunnel and head upwards to herd the ghosts together before proceeding to devour the energiser, followed by all four ghosts in quick succession.

"She is doing rather well, if I do say so myself." the Namcoator admits. "She can't use patterns because _Ms. Pac-Man_ incorporates semi-random behaviour into the ghosts' motion."

"TIL." says Gus. He turns back to the monitor and begins silently cheering Jackie on as she emerges from the side-tunnel's left entrance.

* * *

Jackie's mind is currently focused on the bonus cherry that has spawned. Chasing it down to the bottom of the maze, she is able to capture it and score 100 points. Shen then quickly flees down a nearby hallway with Blinky, Pinky and Sue following her while Inky takes a different route, attempting to trap her.

Unfortunately for the ghosts, the path they selected to trap her in contains an energiser.

CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP!

Consuming all four ghosts gives Jackie the 10,000 points she needs for an extra life.

She dashes up the hallway on the left side of the maze and eats three pellets she missed there, before proceeding to the top-right corner, where the final energiser awaits. Jackie turns into the corridor for the final energiser. Checking behind her back for the ghosts, none of them seem to be behind her.

"Oh well." Jackie shrugs. She leans against the wall and waits for the ghosts to get closer. Soon enough Blinky, Pinky and Inky arrive, but Jackie is faster at eating the energiser, and stuffs her face. She then locates Sue, who was in one of the top corridors, and eats her as well. Knowing she is almost done, Jackie heads left to lure the ghosts away from the final group of pellets, before dashing back to eat them.

As soon as she consumes the final one, the ghosts freeze for a second, before disappearing as the walls flash white.

"Actually, I guess that was a little fun..." Jackie mutters to herself. Soon enough, the Namcoator's voice comes in over the intercom.

"Well done, player! You have completed the cherry maze! You shall now proceed to the strawberry maze!"

Soon enough Jackie's vision turns black and stays so for a few seconds, before she finds herself back at the maze's starting point. She sets off to complete the strawberry maze.

* * *

**INTERMISSION ONE: THEY MEET**

Gus appears at the top of the screen running to the left, and Jackie appears at the bottom running to the right. They are being chased by Pinky and Inky respectively. The two ghosts chase the children off-screen. Gus and Jackie then reappear in the centre of the screen, running towards each other, still being chased by the ghosts. Just as they are about to collide they turn upwards, causing the ghosts to collide instead. They disappear as Gus and Jackie turn to face each other, and a pink love heart appears above them.

**INTERMISSION TWO: THE CHASE**

Gus and Jackie appear from the right side of the screen, and she chases him off-screen in a playful manner. This repeats a few more times to the beat of the intermission's music.

**INTERMISSION THREE: JUNIOR**

An adult Gus and Jackie are waiting on the left side of the screen anxiously. A stork appears at the top of the screen and drops a small cyan bundle, which unwraps to reveal a baby with Jackie's skin and Gus's hair. The couple dashes over to the child, picks them up and showers them with hugs.

* * *

Jackie is now on the fifteenth maze, the final one she needs to complete. Her mind is focused on a bonus pretzel right now, but she soon consumes them and turns back to the final few pellets. Sue is also approaching them, but Jackie is faster and reaches them first. Sue freezes, and then disappears, as do the other ghosts, while the walls flash white.

"That's it! That's it! I'm done!" Jackie does a small celebration dance. "That was actually more fun than I expected!" The Namcoator's voice picks up over the intercom once more.

"Well done, young player! You have cleared the _Ms. Pac-Man_ challenge! Allow me to recall you so you may receive your prize!"

Jackie then dissolves into a flurry of pixels which fly upwards and out of the maze.

* * *

Back in the room where the Namcoator and Gus are seated, Jackie re-materialises.

"You did awesome, Jackie!" says Gus as he offers his hand for a hi-5, which Jackie accepts.

"I have to admit, that was quite fun and exciting. Maybe these games won't be so bad after all…"

The Namcoator chuckles and then reaches behind his back, producing a trophy of Ms. Pac-Man herself, which Jackie graciously accepts.

"Two down, thirteen to go…" says the Namocator as Jackie admires the trophy.


	4. Galaxian

The Namcoator turns to Gus. "The third challenge is the _Galaxian_ challenge. Gus Wilde will be undertaking this challenge."

"Is this the one where I blow up aliens?" enquires Gus.

The Namcoator nods. "Yes. Yes it is."

Gus smiles. "Finally, the GOOD stuff!"

The Namcoator snaps his fingers and Gus dissolves into a flurry of pixels that disappear.

* * *

We cut to somewhere in deep space. The only object present other than stars and cosmic dust is a lone spaceship. This ship's main body looks similar to the main body of NASA's Saturn V rocket, albeit with a rounded nose. The ship also has two engines connected by a pair of struts to its main body, and the cockpit is positioned in front of the main body and projects outward from the main body. The cockpit has a single gun mounted to its underside. The ship is mainly painted in a vivid cyan; however, the cockpit is red and the engines are lined with white.

Inside this ship's cockpit, Gus Wilde rematerialises. He looks around.

"Woah… look at all this hi-tech stuff…" Gus says to himself.

The Namcoator's voice comes in over the intercom. "Welcome to the _Galaxian_ challenge, young player. This ship you are in is called the Galaxip."

"Galaxip… sounds fancy."

"Indeed. Why don't you turn around and have a seat?"

Gus turns around towards the front of the cockpit and sees a seat behind the controls. He walks over and sits down.

"Yikes, this looks complicated…" Gus worries.

The Namcoator chuckles. "Don't worry, player. The Galaxip is surprisingly easy to control. See that lever in front of you?"

Gus takes a look. The lever in question looks similar to the handlebar of a bicycle, with a large red button on top. He places both hands on the bars, with both thumbs resting on the button.

"I'm guessing this is how you steer, and the red button is to shoot?" Gus assumes.

"That is no surprise." replies the Namcoator. "You should practice this a bit, but I'd highly suggest you buckle up first."

Gus looks over and sees the seat has a seatbelt similar to the one on a car. He duly pulls the belt over himself and connects it to the clip.

"I'll give you some time to practice. Let me know when you're done."

"OK!" Gus then smirks to himself. He tilts the lever to the right, and the Galaxip lurches to the right, but thanks to the seatbelt Gus isn't sent flying out of the seat.

"Bit stronger than I anticipated, but oh well." He then tilts the stick to the left and the Galaxip lurches left.

"Time to try out this sweet gun! Pew pew!" Gus enthusiastically presses the shoot button. A "pew" noise rings out as a shot fires out of the gun and whizzes away from the Galaxip, quickly disappearing into the distance.

The Namcoator's voice comes in over the intercom once more. "I see you enjoy that gun. I'd better quickly give you a warning: the Galaxip's gun is still a prototype, and you have to wait for the current shot to disappear before you can fire again."

"Got it." says Gus.

* * *

A few minutes of practice later, Gus believes he is ready. "OK, I'm ready!"

"Very well, young player. The _Galaxian_ challenge shall now commence!"

The _Galaxian_ game start noise plays.

GUS WILDE - READY!

Gus looks out of the windshield as the aliens materialise in front of him. All of the aliens look somewhat like insects, with the exception of the flagships at the back. Closest to Gus are three rows of 10 teal aliens each, behind that is a single row of 8 purple aliens, behind that is a row of 6 red aliens, and behind that are a pair of flagships.

"Let's do this!" Gus proclaims. He duly opens fire on the aliens, who begin returning fire; however, due to the way the aliens are moving and the limitations of the Galaxip's gun, actually hitting the aliens proves to be harder than he anticipated. "This is surprisingly tricky…" he mutters to himself.

Suddenly one of the teal aliens breaks from the formation and begins swooping towards Gus's position whilst continuing to fire. Luckily Gus manages to spot it in time and quickly moves the Galaxip out of harm's way. He sighs. "That was too close…" The alien quickly rejoins its comrades in the formation.

* * *

In the room with the Namcoator and Jackie, the latter is watching Gus's progress. He has destroyed about half of the teal aliens.

"Isn't this basically just _Space Invaders_?" Jackie questions.

" _Galaxian_ is more than just _Space Invaders_ , player." the Namcoator responds. "This game was the first video game to use multi-coloured sprites! Not bad for a 1979 release, don't you think?"

Jackie had always thought of video games as being new, so the fact they existed back in 1979 surprises her. "Colour me surprised."

Jackie begins silently cheering Gus on.

* * *

At this point Gus has managed to eliminate most of the aliens - only about seven or so are left. The flagship that Gus hasn't destroyed begins a bombing run, bringing two red aliens with it as escorts. However Gus has managed to gain more experience in the thick of combat, and he manages to destroy first the red aliens and then the flagship, scoring him 800 points.

The remaining aliens abandon the formation (not that there is one anymore, anyway…) and begin diving aimlessly down like headless chickens and shooting like madmen. Soon enough Gus manages to pick them off.

"Alright! Take that, aliens!" Gus sits back in the seat, satisfied.

"Don't get cozy just yet, player. More aliens are incoming!"

Gus quickly jolts back upright as the second wave of aliens materialises. He grabs the controls. "Let's get shootin'!"

* * *

Fifteen waves of aliens have come and gone, and Gus has (with a couple game overs) managed to eliminate all of them. Just one alien form the fifteenth wave remains. Gus's bullet strikes it, killing it. As it explodes and its body parts fly off in different directions Gus fistbumps the air.

"Oh yeah! They won't be invading Earth anytime soon!

"Well done, player! You have completed the Galaxian challenge! Allow me to recall you so you may receive your prize!" Gus soon dematerialises and disappears, leaving the Galaxip's cockpit empty.

* * *

Gus rematerialises in the Namcoator and Jackie's room. The Namcoator already has the _Galaxian_ trophy prepared, featuring the _Galaxian_ flagship. Gus takes it and admires it.

"Can I just say that the aliens' diving noise was irritating?" Jackie complains.

"You say you." the Namcoator replies.


	5. Galaga

The Namcoator draws in a breath.

"Allow us to move on to the fourth challenge, the _Galaga_ challenge. Jackie Johnson will undertake this challenge."

Jackie sighs. "The names are similar. This is just going to be another repeat of what Gusie did with a couple bits changed, isn't it?"

The Namcoator stifles a chuckle. "Don't put _Galaga_ down just yet, player. You are going to get to use features that Gus didn't have access to."

This pikes Jackie's interest. "New features?"

The Namcoator nods. He then snaps his fingers and Jackie dematerialises.

* * *

Cut once more to deep space. A different spaceship is in view this time. This one, painted in white, looks similar to a military fighter, with a pair of red-tipped gins and indicators and a small red cockpit. Inside this cockpit Jackie rematerialises and looks around.

"Woah. Looks like something out of a sci-fi film…" she mutters to herself.

"Welcome to the _Galaga_ challenge, player." the Namcoator's voice comes in over the intercom. "This ship you are in doesn't have a fancy name unlike the Galaxip. We shall just call it 'the Galaga fighter' for convenience sake. Have a seat at the controls, will you?"

Jackie walks over and takes a seat at the controls. The control lever looks exactly the same as the control lever of the Galaxip.

"You heard me explain to Gus how the Galaxip controls, yes?" the Namcoator asks.

"Of course." Jackie affirms.

"Well the Galaga fighter is equally simple to control. You saw Gus do it, now it's your turn. Do remember to buckle up first."

Jackie duly obliges, pulling the seat belt over herself. She grabs the controls. Pulling the lever to the right, the fighter lurches to the right. "This thing is fast!" Jackie mentally screams. She then pulls the lever to the left and the fighter lurches left.

"Better make sure the gun works…" she states. She presses the shoot button and a shot rings out. "However the one-shot rule will probably make things harder, as I saw with Gusie…"

"Actually," the Namcoator explains, "you're a little wrong there, in a good sense. The Galaga fighter's gun is a bit more advanced, and you can have up to two shots at a time on screen."

"Okay then. That makes things a bit easier…"

"I'd better also let you know that unlike in the _Galaxian_ challenge, the aliens will be flying in waves until the formation is assembled, and you can kill them whilst the formation is still being assembled. Got all that?"

"Got it."

* * *

Five minutes have passed and Jackie believes she has mastered the controls. "Alright, I'm ready. Begin the challenge!"

"At your command! The _Galaga_ challenge shall now commence!"

The _Galaga_ game start noise plays.

JACKIE JOHNSON - READY!

As soon as the jingle ends, a group of four bee-like aliens and another group of four butterfly-like aliens appear and begin a massive loop-the-loop around the centre of the playing field.

Jackie immediately opens fire, but due to the way the aliens are moving she only manages to hit two of the bees. "Okay, maybe my marksmanship could do with some work…" The aliens quickly assemble into their formation.

Killing a third bee in the formation, Jackie notices a group of butterflies and Boss Galagas incoming from the left and shifts her attention to those. Firing on them, she manages to kill three butterflies, and a shot also hits one of the Boss Galagas, turning it purple. "Wait, didn't I hit it? Why didn't it die? Maybe they take two hits to kill..."

A line of butterflies swoops in, but Jackie manages to pick most of them off - only three remain. They are followed by two lines of bees, which Jackie manages to eliminate about half of.

The remaining aliens are now assembled in formation. Only about a dozen or so are present because of Jackie's firing. One of the remaining butterflies breaks from the half-formation and swoops towards the fighter whilst firing, but Jackie manages to evade both the alien and its bullets. "Geez, these guys are NOT playing around." she mutters to herself.

Once she has eliminated the rest of the bees, one of the Boss Galagas begins swooping down, but it doesn't loop or fire any bullets. Stopping about halfway up the screen, a set of blue circles begin emanating from the Boss Galaga's head and travelling outwards.

"What's it doing?" Jackie wonders. She moves the fighter closer to investigate. However she ends up moving it too far, into the path of the blue circles. All of a sudden the fighter begins spinning towards the Boss Galaga!

"What, what's going on?!" Jackie askes, beginning to sound a little panicky. She looks around frantically. Before she can understand what is happening, her fighter reaches the Boss Galaga.

She blacks out for a second. The "fighter captured" jingle plays. A voice tells her in her head "Fighter captured."

When she comes back to, she is in a new fighter. She looks out and sees her captured fighter being towed by the Boss Galaga. "So the big aliens can CAPTURE my fighter?" she questions. "Can I rescue it?"

However, seeing the aliens diving towards her, she quickly brushes the thought aside and resumes shooting. Soon enough the Boss Galaga goes on a diving run, bringing its captive with it. Jackie maneuvers herself into position and duly fires, destroying it. The captured fighter turns white again while the "fighter rescued" jingle plays. The rescued fighter soon flies to the same level as Jackie's fighter, and Jackie hears a bolt noise as it connects to her fighter.

"It joined my fighter… does this mean I have dual firepower?"

She shoots to test, and sure enough two shots fly out, not just one. "It does! Sweet!"

Feeling encouraged, Jackie fires like a madman, and soon enough all of the aliens are picked off.

* * *

Fifteen waves of aliens have come and gone, and Jackie has managed to destroy them all. The last aliens explodes and its body parts fly in all directions. Jackie smiles. "I did it!"

The Namcoator's voice picks up over the intercom. "Well done player! You have completed the _Galaga_ challenge! Allow me to recall you so you may receive your prize!"

Jackie then dematerialises.

* * *

Jackie rematerialises inside the room where the Namcoator and Gus are. The Namcoator already has the _Galaga_ trophy prepared, showing a Boss Galaga. Jackie takes it and admires it.

"So what's next?" Gus enquires.


	6. Pole Position

The Namcoator stretches for a second before turning to Gus.

"I'm glad you asked, Gus. The fifth challenge is the _Pole Position_ challenge, which you will be undertaking."

"Pole Position? What's that?" Gus asks, confused. He has never heard of a game called _Pole Position_ before.

"You shall learn soon enough." He snaps his fingers and Gus dematerialises.

* * *

When Gus rematerialises, he finds himself in the middle of what seems to be a road. The road is surrounded by grass as far as Gus can see, with hills on the horizon. The edge of the road is lined with red and white striped track limits, and billboards advertising companies like Pepsi and Canon. It takes a second for Gus to take in all this.

"A road… Is this a racing game? I love racing games!" Gus asks, already enthusiastic.

"Indeed it is, player!" the Namcoator says approvingly. "Of course, you need a vehicle. Turn around. I have prepared a car for you." Gus duly does so, and his car, a Formula One IndyCar. This car is mostly orange, but also has blue decals and red aerofoil wings.

Gus runs up to it, quivering with excitement. "Oh boy! The race hasn't even started yet and I'm already ready for it!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" The Namcoator abruptly spits out, prompting Gus to stop.

"What? Is there something wrong?" Jackie's boyfriend asks.

"You can't just go racing in your current outfit. You need something more fitting. I've got this!" Gus abruptly finds himself bathed in a white light for a few seconds, and when it clears he sees that he has been changed into a Formula One racing outfit, coloured orange with dashes of blue and red, just like his car.

"Ooo… I like it!" Gus exclaims!

"One last thing, player. You don't exactly know how to drive a standard car, let alone a race car, right?"

Gus feels his stomach sink. "No…"

"Don't worry about that! Allow me to transport myself into the game world to give you some lessons!" Suddenly a flurry of pixels appear in the sky, as the Namcoator himself materialises near the car. "Alright then, I'm here. Get in!"

Gus nods, brightening up again. Climbing into the driver's seat, he grabs the steering wheel as the Namcoator takes the passenger seat. The Namcoator then produces the car's keys and hands them to Gus, who uses them to start up the engine. "So where do we start?" Gus asks.

* * *

An hour has passed. Gus has managed to pick things up surprisingly quickly, and now his car is at the starting line. "Alright then, I believe I am ready for the race! Let the challenge begin!"

"Very well then. The _Pole Position_ challenge shall now commence! However, for your information, before the actual race you have to complete a qualifier lap! You have 60 seconds for this qualifier, and you need to stop once you pass the finish line."

"Got it." Gus replies.

The Namcoator snaps his fingers and dematerialises. Leaving the game world. The Pole Position game start jingle plays.

GUS WILDE - READY!

A grey-painted zeppelin flies overhead carrying a banner reading "Prepare to qualify!" as a female voice says the same thing over the intercom. Gus looks up at the starting lights.

The green light flashes and Gus duly takes off. Within nine seconds he has already accelerated to 185 kilometres per hour, and as the first turn comes up he manages to complete it without issue. As he is completing the next turn he sees another car on the road.

"What's another car doing here? Maybe it's also on a qualifier lap?" Gus wonders as he overtakes it.

This pattern continues for another fifteen seconds or so, Gus maneuvering around the various turns while he overtakes the other cars. Soon enough, three or so seconds after completing the final turn he passes the starting line, and slams on the brake pedal, bringing the car to a halt. The qualifier complete jingle plays.

Another grey-painted zeppelin flies overhead, its banner reading "Prepare to race!"

"Well done player!" the Namcoator announces over the intercom. You have qualified for the race! You shall be in third place!"

"Oh yeah!" Gus exclaims. "First would have been cool, but third should be no problem! I'll just overtake first and second!"

Soon enough Gus is teleported behind the starting line, behind the cars in the pole position and the second position. He looks up at the starting lights.

3… 2… 1… GO!

Gus takes off, as do the other cars. It doesn't take him long before he has overtaken first place to claim the title.

* * *

Jackie is watching Gus on the monitor as he sees an oil slick and hastily evades it. She looks meserised by how Gus is performing.

"I didn't know Gusie could drive so well, having had to learn in an hour." Jackie states.

"Yeah." the Namcoator replies. "Did you know _Pole Position_ is considered the most important racing game ever made?"

"Just how important?"

"Well, a number of reasons. It had the first track based on a real racing circuit - in this case, the Fuji Speedway in Japan. It was the first racing game with a qualifier lap. And it included scaling sprites! This was all in 1982, mind you, and _Pole Position_ needed a unique hardware set to handle all of that!"

"So… pretty important." Jackie extrapolates.

"Indeed."

Jackie turns back to the monitor and begins silently cheering Gus on.

* * *

Back on the track, Gus has just passed the finish line for the final time, fassing the girl waving the chequered flag. He decides to pull over, shutting the engine off. "Woo! That was intense but I did it! Alright!"

"Well done, player! You have completed the _Pole Position_ challenge! Allow me to recall you so you may receive tour trophy!" Gus promptly dematerialises.

* * *

Gus rematerialises inside the room with the Namcoator and Jackie, back in his normal outfit. He runs up and give Jackie a hi-5.

"You did amazing out there!" Jackie exclaimed.

"I know." Gus replied. "Racing is tricker than I anticipated, but I enjoyed it. The wind in my hair, the squeal of tires, the thrill of going a high speeds, oh it was so intense! I may not have played _Pole Position_ before, but I think it's now one of my favourites!"

The Namcoator chuckles and produces the trophy, featuring Gus's car. Gus takes it and admires it.

"So… what's the next challenge?" enquires Jackie.


	7. Pole Position II

"Well Jackie," the Namcoator begins, "the next challenge is the _Pole Position II_ challenge. That means it's your turn to go for a drive."

"This is going to be a recurring theme, isn't it?" Jackie groans. "I'm just going to do what Gusie does, with a couple additions here and there, right?"

"Yes, it was a recurring theme..." the Namcoator concedes, "...but I promise that this is the last time that will happen. After this challenge, your challenges and Gus's challenges will be different."

Jackie sighs. "Make sure of it."

The Namcoator duly snaps his fingers and Jackie dematerialises.

* * *

When Jackie comes back to, she finds herself on a grassy field with a road, similar to where Gus materialised. "Let's get right to it." Jackie states. "I'll need a car…"

"And a car you shall receive. Turn around."

Jackie spins around and sees her vehicle, a Formula One IndyCar similar to Gus's car. The main difference is that this car has a drastically different colour scheme; it is blue with grey aerofoil wings and teal and white decals.

"Ooo… it looks cool!" Jackie exclaims. "At this point Gus got an outfit, so am I getting one too?"

"Correct observation! One second please…"

Jackie is bathed in a white light for a few seconds, and when it clears her yellow dress has been replaced by a blue, white and teal Formula One outfit. She takes a second to admire herself. "Snazzy! Am I receiving driving lessons as well?"

"Of course you will." the Namcoator responds. "Just give me a second to get here..." It takes a few seconds, but sure enough the Namcoator's pixels appear in the sky and assemble. He and Jackie take their seats. The Namcoator produces the car's keys and hands them to Jackie, who uses them to start up the engine. "Shall we get started?"

"Of course." Jackie replies.

* * *

Just like Gus, Jackie has managed to pick up the necessary skills surprisingly quickly. "So, can we start now?" she asks.

"Almost." the Namocator replies. "One last thing." He snaps his fingers to bring up a holographic display in front of Jackie, showing four different tracks, labelled "Test Circuit", "Fuji Circuit", "Seaside Circuit" and "Suzuka Circuit". "Unlike the original, _Pole Position II_ has four different tracks to complete. To complete this challenge you will need to obtain at least third place on all four."

Jackie takes a second to examine her options. "Well, I'll do the Test Circuit first because it looks to be the easiest."

"Very well. Allow me to transport you there." The Namcoator snaps once more and Jackie's surroundings flash white before she arrives at a new locale, this one featuring grassless dirt in every direction, with what look to be buildings in the far distance. "Alright, good luck." The Namcoator dematerialises, leaving Jackie alone in the driver's seat. The Pole Position II start jingle plays.

JACKIE JOHNSON - READY!

A biplane carrying the "prepare to qualify" banner flies overhead as the words are called. Jackie looks up at the lights. The green flashes, and Jackie quickly takes off. It does not take long before she hits 150mph, and she takes that as her cue to switch to high gear. The first turn comes soon afterward and Jackie manages to take it without crashing.

After the next turn, she sees the other cars who are also on the qualifier lap. She smirks to herself. "Move over, there's a new speed queen in town!" she exclaims as she overtakes them. Passing under a half-tire-like structure with the yellow words "DUNLOP SP FORMULA", she reaches the next turn and takes it, overtaking three more cars. A few seconds after the final turn, she reaches and crosses the finish line, 50 seconds after she started.

"Well done on completing the qualifier, player!" the Namcoator congratulates as the biplane carrying the "prepare to race" banner flies overhead. "You will be in the pole position!"

"...W-what does that mean?" asks Jackie, confused.

"When the race starts, you will be placed in first!"

"Well this makes things easier…" Jackie comments to herself. Soon enough she finds herself back at the start line. She looks up at the lights.

3… 2… 1… GO!

Jackie slams on the gas pedal and her car zooms forwards, quickly putting distance between her and her opposition.

* * *

Several minutes have passed since Jackie began the Test Curcuit, and she is now on the Fuji Circuit. Gus stares as the monitor screen, mesmerised.

"For someone who is driving their first time, Jackie's doing pretty well!" Gus states.

"Indeed. Can I make a small confession?" the Namcoator asks.

"Go ahead." Gus replies.

"... _Pole Position II_ is more of an update than a true sequel. Changing the machines is pretty simple; you just have to swap out the decals and a couple chips and you've done it. But don't blame me okay? They run on the same hardware. Why stop using something that's not broken?"

 **BOOM!** The two are abruptly startled by the noise of Jackie crashing, with some debris having been added to the animation. Gus hisses in horror. "Oooooo… That ought to hurt…" Soon enough Jackie respawns on the road and starts moving again.

"Don't worry. She's in a game. She can't really die." the Namcoator says in an attempt to comfort Gus, which works. He begins silently cheering Jackie on.

It has been half an hour. Jackie is now on the final lap of the final track, Seaside Circuit. She has almost crashed a dozen or so times, but her persistence has paid off. She zooms over the finish line, claiming first place.

"Oh yeah! I did it!" she celebrates.

"Well done, player! You have completed the Pole Position II challenge! I've got the trophy waiting here for you, so I'd better not leave you waiting! Pull over, please."

Jackie does as instructed, pulling over and shutting off the car's engine.

"There. Now let's get you your trophy!"

The Namcoator snaps, and Jackie dematerialises.

* * *

Gus sees his girlfriend rematerialise and duly offers her a hi-5. She accepts.

"So how was it?" Gus asks.

"That was absolutely incredible!" Jackie exclaims joyfully. "I think I understand now why people like racing."

The Namcoator chuckles. "Plus, a girl did all that. My players have broken gender stereotypes more times than you could shake a stick at. Anyway, here is your trophy." He produces the Pole Position II trophy, featuring Jackie's car and the "II" from the game's logo. He presents it to Jackie, who admires it.

"What's next?" Gus asks.


	8. Sky Kid

The Namcoator smiles. "The seventh challenge is the _Sky Kid_ challenge. This one shall be a special one."

"Special?" Jackie enquires.

"I'll have you know that _Sky Kid_ was the first Namco game to feature two-player simultaneous play! That means - you guessed it - the both of you will be undertaking this challenge!"

"Cool!" exclaims Gus. "But what will we be doing, anyway?"

"You will find out soon enough." The Namcoator snaps his fingers and the two dematerialise.

* * *

Once the two kids have rematerialised, they take a look around. They now seem to be at some sort of military airfield. They are currently standing on the runway, with the barracks of the pilots behind them.

"I see we're at an airport… Looks like we're flying!" Jackie deduces.

"Correct!" The Namcoator's voice booms from the sky. "Today you will be taking to the skies!"

"So what are we waiting for?" Gus asks enthusiastically.

"Well, it can get VERY cold up there. You need a special outfit to survive such temperatures. I've got this." He snaps, and a white light covers the two children. When it clears, they find they have been changed into outfits similar to the outfit a World War I-era aviator would wear.

"Wow… this is so fancy!" Gus remarks.

"You also need aircraft. Turn around."

The two children do as obliged, and their aircraft are revealed - a pair of British Avro 504s, one painted bright red and the other bright blue. The two children look upon them in awe.

"Well then, let's go!" Gus fistbumps the air. He races over to his plane and, after a bit of struggle, climbs into the pilot's seat, the controls having been modified so he can reach them. Jackie follows shortly after. "Let's do this!"

* * *

Two hours of training have gone by. It has been somewhat tricky for the Namcoator to monitor both Gus and Jackie at the same time, but their flying skills have now developed to the point where the Namcoator is satisfied. Now both planes are lined up at the starting runway of the first mission.

"Ready to do this?" the Namcoator nods.

"You bet!" Gus exclaims in glee. Jackie simply nods in response.

"Alright then. The _Sky Kid_ challenge shall now commence!" He pulls out a picture showing a small munitions factory with four anti-aircraft guns on the roof. "This is your target!"

"Got it!" Gus and Jackie reply.

The Namcoator then dematerialises, leaving Gus and Jackie on the runway, waiting for the signal. The _Sky Kid_ start jingle plays.

GUS WILDE AND JACKIE JOHNSON - READY!

"Take off!"

Gus and Jackie pull the necessary throttles, and their aircraft both race down the runway at breakneck speed. Once they have covered three-quarters of the distance, they pull the steering levers up, and before they know it the ground drops away. Now having taken off, they settle themselves into a stable path. Soon enough they spy hostile motorised infantry and tanks below.

"You deal with them, Jackie! I'll take care of the enemy planes!" Gus plans out.

"Roger!" Jackie swoops low to fire on the land units whilst Gus opens fire on the enemy aircraft that are now appearing in the skies above them. After dealing with a few formations of enemy forces, the Namcoator voice booms once more;

"You have reached the halfway point of the mission! You now need to get the bombs!"

Looking at the ground, Gus and Jackie spot the bombs, waiting to be picked up. Gus swoops down to pick his up; once he does so he ascends to allow Jackie to collect hers. Now with the bombs in tow, they continue firing on the enemy units. After another wave, they fly over a plateau with a building, which the two children recognise as their target.

Staying high to avoid the anti-aircraft fire, the two children both release their bombs. A few seconds later they hear a loud blast followed by a crashing sound as the explosion blows apart the factory, leaving nothing but a massive pile of rubble.

"Well done!" the Namcoator congratulates them. "The ending runway is coming up!"

After dealing with one last enemy air squadron, the two spy the ending runway and swoop down towards it, preparing themselves. The landing is bumpy, but soon enough their aircraft have ground to a halt. The mission clear jingle plays.

"Mission clear!" the Namcoator announces.

"We did it! That was awesome, wasn't it Jackie?" Jackie nods in agreement with Gus's comment.

"Well then, I say we waste no time and get onto the second mission!" the Namcoator decides.

* * *

The Namcoator is watching Gus and Jackie make progress on mission 14. Seeming satisfied with how they are doing, he turns to the readers and draws in a breath.

"Okay, I'll admit. I don't really have much to say to the two players, so I thought I might talk about _Sky Kid_ and share some details with you. This game was released in 1985, and as I said to Jackie earlier it was the first Namco game to feature two-player simultaneous play. It ran on the same hardware as _Pac-Land_ , but the video system used to draw and sprites and such was similar to that of _Dragon Buster_ , another 1985 release."

"Also, the game contains a few references to real-life pilots. The two original protagonists were a pair of birds named 'Red Baron' and 'Blue Max'. 'Red Baron' is a reference to the famous German World War I flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, and 'Blue Max' is a reference to the prestigious German military order 'Pour le Mérite', informally known as Blue Max."

"The game was also ported to the Famicom in August 1986, and to the NES in September 1987. There's even an arcade version on Nintendo's VS. System called 'VS. Super Sky Kid'. Don't ask me WHY the word 'Super' was added to the name; promotional materials just call this version 'VS. Sky Kid'."

"One last thing. _Sky Kid_ received a sequel in 1986 called _Sky Kid Deluxe_ , which featured more missions, slightly enhanced graphics and additional enemies."

* * *

Gus and Jackie have just landed after bringing down the pink flying fortress in the final mission. Gus sighs.

"That was pretty intense, but we did it! Go us!"

Jackie chuckles. "I've flown in a few planes before, but I've never actually been the pilot. I must say, I enjoyed that."

"Well done players! You have completed the _Sky Kid_ challenge!" the Namcoator announces. Allow me to recall you so you may receive your trophy!" He snaps once more, and the two children dematerialise, leaving the planes' pilot seats empty.

* * *

Gus and Jackie rematerialise in the Namcoator's room, having been changed back into their standard outfits.

"About time you got back. It was beginning to get a little lonely in here. Anyways..."

He produces the _Sky Kid_ trophy, which featured one of the planes that Gus and Jackie used. They take it and admire it.

After a few seconds, Gus exclaims "Hit us with the next challenge!"


	9. Xevious

"Gladly. The eighth challenge is the _Xevious_ challenge, which Gus Wilde will be undertaking."

Gus smirks. "That sounds exotic. Let's do this."

The Namcoator snaps his fingers and Gus dematerialises.

* * *

We cut to somewhere above the Earth, more specifically above a dense forest. Around 75 metres above the ground, a lone ship is flying. It looks similar to the Galaga fighter, but it does not have any lights, and it has blue stripes on its wings. Inside the cockpit Gus rematerialises. He takes a look around.

"So I'm in another ship… Shooting aliens again, I'm guessing." Gus assumed.

"...Almost." the Namcoator replies over the intercom. "Allow me to fill you in on the details. This ship you are in is called the Solvalou. It's 9.91 metres long, 3.52 metres tall, 6.73 metres wide and weighs 18,500 kg."

"Mmmhmm… If I'm not shooting aliens, then what?"

"Basically player, the supercomputer GAMP is aiming to conquer Earth and wipe out mankind. It'll be sitting pretty if it achieves that, so we're trying to stop it. Your goal in the _Xevious_ challenge is to clear all 15 areas of the game, while GAMP will throw its forces at you, so be careful. Have a seat."

Gus walks over and takes a seat at the Solvalou's controls. There is a steering lever present, along with a fire button and a pedal for Gus's legs.

"The lever's for steering and the button's for firing, yes?" Gus extrapolates from what he has learned in the Galaxian challenge.

"Yes." The Namcoator confirms.

"So what's this foot pedal for?" Gus asks.

"I'm glad you asked. Since this ship is not in space but rather in the sky above Earth, you'll be dealing with both aerial enemies and land-based enemies. The Solvalou is equipped with two weapons, player. You have a Zapper gun for shooting down aerial enemies, fired with that fire button, and you have an unlimited supply to air-to-surface bombs for land-based enemies, fired with that pedal." the Namcoator explained.

"Got it."

"You are going to fly over the testing range shortly, where you can practice using the Solvalou's weapons. Let me know using the microphone when you think you are ready!"

"You bet!" Gus exclaimed as the testing range came into view through the windshield.

* * *

Gus has been having fun using the Solvalou's weapons. But the blonde boy knows that he will need to actually undertake the challenge to complete it. He leaned over to a microphone built into the steering lever. "I'm ready for the challenge!"

"Very well! The _Xevious_ challenge shall now commence! But before it actually begins, I'd better inform you that should you die at least 70% of the way through an area, you will start at the beginning of a new area!"

"Understood!"

The _Xevious_ game start jingle plays.

GUS WILDE - READY!

No sooner than the jingle had ended that Gus is already aware of a group of ring-like Toroids approaching the Solvalou, but some shots from its Zapper makes quick work of them. As the forest beneath Gus and the Solvalou gives way to a flat grassy plain littered with paths, Gus uses the Zapper to destroy another group of Toroids.

"The enemies aren't even firing on me… This feels too easy for someone like me!"

Below Gus spots a Bara storage station and a Zolbak radar and duly bombs them to eliminate them. A Logram attack dome comes into view next, and it quickly opens to fire a single shot at Gus, who thankfully manages to get the Solvalou out of the way in time.

"Oh, so NOW they're firing on me. About time…" Gus mutters as he bombs the Logram to destroy it.

* * *

An hour or so has passed, and Jackie and the Namcoator are now watching Gus battle a huge Andor Genesis mothership. Dodging its bullets and the Zakatos it was firing, Gus is able to expertly land a shot in its centre core, destroying it and grounding the Andor Genesis. Jackie was clearly impressed by Gus's skill.

"This looks hectic…" Jackie begins.

"Yeah." replies the Namcoator. "Not only is _Xevious_ hectic, it's quite smart for a game. Notice how the enemies are more aggressive than they were when Gus started out?"

"I never really paid attention to that, but yeah. They certainly are packing more heat!"

"Seems GAMP has noticed how much of a threat Gus is and is sending in its stronger troops. That was the idea of this game's developer, Masanobu Endoh. He wanted a more realistic game than title like Galaxian or Galaga."

"And how is _Xevious_ more realistic?" Jackie questions.

"Well Jackie, unlike in those games, the enemies here do not do reckless things like sit passively in a formation or do kamikaze bombing runs. No. They rush up to you, take a shot and then retreat."

"I see…"

Jackie then begins silently cheering Gus on, something she has done consistently so far when it is not her turn to undertake the challenges.

* * *

Gus sees a dense forest up ahead which marks the end of area fifteen. As soon as the Solvalou begins passing over it, the Namcoator's voice begins sounding out:

"Well done, player! You have reached the end of area fifteen, and with that the _Xevious_ challenge is complete!"

"Indeed!" Gus proclaims. "The enemies may be smart, but I am smarter!"

"Too true!" Allow me to recall you so you may receive your trophy!"

Gus dematerialises, leaving the Solvalou's cockpit empty.

* * *

Back in the Namcoator's room, Gus rematerialises. Jackie runs over and hugs him.

"You did as amazing out there as all the other times!" Jackie comments.

Gus nods as Jackie releases him. They turn to the Namcoator, who as already prepared the _Xevious_ trophy, showing the Solvalou. Gus takes it.

"Where are you even getting these things, anyway?" Jackie asks.

"They're hand-made using special molds." the Namocator explains.

Jackie seems to be content with this explanation. She smiles as Gus continues admiring the trophy.

"So what's the next challenge?"


	10. Dig Dug

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dig Dug is probably my favourite of the classic Namco arcade titles. My current high score is 63,600 points on round 11. Let’s see if you can beat that!

“The ninth challenge is the  _ Dig Dug _ challenge. Jackie Johnson shall undertake this challenge.”

Jackie nods. “Understood. What shall I be doing?”

“It involves taking out monsters in an… unorthodox fashion. I’ll elaborate once you arrive at the playing field.” The Namcoator snaps his fingers and Jackie dematerialises.

* * *

We cut to what seems to be a large vegetable garden. Jackie rematerialises in the centre of one of the patches and takes a look around. “Where am I?” she wonders.

“Welcome to the  _ Dig Dug _ challenge, player.” the Namcoator replies. “I happen to own the vegetable garden you are standing in right now. I am going to transport myself over here so I can explain things better.”

“I’m in a vegetable garden? How will I take out monsters here? Are they like, sentient carrots or something?” Jackie wonders.

She is snapped out of her thoughts when the Namcoator materialises nearby. They turn to face each other.

“Hello there, player. I’d better explain what’s going on here." He pulls out a piece of paper and unfurls it, showing two illustrations. The one on the left shows a red spherical creature, with yellow feet, a pair of yellow goggles and a small white tail at its back. The one on the right shows a green dragon-like creature with red wings and feet. “These are the monsters you will be going up against. They are called Pookas and Fygars, and they’ve taken over the tunnels beneath my garden and are causing quite a few problems. I’ve identified 15 patches they have invaded. Your goal is to dig underground and exterminate all of the nuisances.”

“Okay then…” Jackie replies. “How will I eliminate them?”

“That is where things get interesting. Your weapon shall be, believe it or not, an air pump!”

“Air pump? Like, the thing you use to inflate bicycle tires?” Jackie questioned. “But how am I going to defeat them with an air pump? What will I do - hit them over the head with it?”

“Good question. The pump has an extendable hose.This might not sit well with you, but what basically happens is you snare an enemy with the pump and fill it with air until it explodes.”

Jackie falls silent at this, attempting to comprehend what she has just heard. It takes a few seconds before the quiet words escape her mouth:

“That… sounds both gruesome and INCREDIBLY painful.”

The Namcoator sighs. “It probably is, but Namco made the game, not me. If you don’t want to take that option, there’s another way to kill enemies. There are several large rocks scattered throughout the ground, and you can dig under them to drop them on the enemies and crush them.”

* * *

After a bit more explaining about things like Fygar’s fire and bonus vegetables, Jackie believes she is ready. She takes a breath. “I am ready to begin the challenge.”

“Very well. Before the challenge begins, I am going to change your outfit to something that will help you cope with underground conditions better.” He snaps his fingers and Jackie is bathed in a white light for a few seconds. When it clears, Jackie’s new outfit is revealed; a white jumpsuit with a red V on the front, a pair of red boots, a pair of blue gloves and a white helmet with a blue mohawk-like attachment on the top and two round red pieces on the sides.

“Oooo…” Jackie says as she admires her outfit. “Let’s do this.”

“Indeed. The  _ Dig Dug _ challenge shall commence as soon as your start digging down to the starting tunnel, marked with that red X.”

Taking the pump which also doubles as her digging device, Jackie digs down to the starting tunnel as the  _ Dig Dug _ intro jingle plays.

JACKIE JOHNSON - READY!

Jackie takes a look at the wrist monitor the Namcoator has given her showing where the enemies are. She decides to target the Pooka at the top-left of the playing field. After digging to the left for a short distance she turns up and breaks through the dirt wall separating her from the Pooka. The creature is currently moving away from her, but Jackie manages to snare it with her pump.

It takes Jackie three good, hard pumps - one, two, three - before the Pooka’s body proves unable to contain the air pressure and ruptures. To Jackie’s surprise, she’s not greeted with any blood or organs - only pieces of the Pooka’s body. “That’s one down.”

Tunneling down, she notices via her monitor that one of the other Pookas has turned into ghost form and is moving towards her. “Haven’t tried the rocks out yet… Time to change that.” Jackie digs down to the sole Fygar’s tunnel but doesn’t actually enter it - perhaps hoping to catch the dragon in the rock’s path - and tunnels up to the rock, staying there to hold it in position. She keeps an eye on her monitor and watches the Pooka draw closer. Once she is satisfied it is close enough, she moves away. The rock shakes for a bit before plummeting down the tunnel, catching the Pooka and Fygar below it, smashing and killing them.

The final enemy jingle plays as the final Pooka begins making its way towards the surface in an attempt to escape. However Jackie manages to intercept it in the vertical tunnel the rock fell down and pumps it up until it explodes. The round clear jingle plays.

“Well done!” states the Namcoator “That’s the first patch clear! I shall now transport you to the second patch!” He snaps to transport Jackie to the second patch.

* * *

Back in the monitoring room, the Namcoator and Gus are watching Jackie clear out the sixth patch. Gus watches with intrigue as Jackie pumps up a Fygar until it pops.

“Those tunnels seem like a maze…” Gus begins. “How does Jackie not get lost in there?”

“Funny you should mention mazes.” the Namcoator replies. “That’s where  _ Dig Dug _ originally came from.”

“Tell me more.” Gus asks, curious.

“After their success with  _ Pac-Man _ , Namco decided to do an alternative take on the maze formula. They wondered if people would find it fun to make their own mazes - and so  _ Dig Dug _ was born. People quite liked the idea -  _ Dig Dug _ sold 22,228 arcade units by the end of 1982 and grossed $46.3 million US dollars in revenue!”

“Quite a lot.” Gus noted. “Thinking outside the box sure does have rewards.” Turning back to the screen, he began silently cheering Jackie on.

* * *

Jackie is on the fifteenth and final patch. Moving away from the rock she had been holding up, she steps away and allows the stone to plummet through the vertical tunnel. The enemies chasing her are all unable to step away in time and they are all killed en masse. The round clear jingle plays.

“I did it!” Jackie exclaims.

“You certainly did!” the Namcoator replies. “You have cleared the  _ Dig Dug _ challenge! You know the drill - let me recall you so you may receive your prize!” He snaps his fingers and Jackie dematerialises.

* * *

Back in the monitoring room, Jackie rematerialises, now back in her standard outfit. She gives Gus a hi-5.

“That looked fun, Jackie!” Gus comments.

“It was, Gusie” Jackie replied. “Although that doesn’t change the fact that the method I used to kill the enemies WAS pretty nasty…”

“I guess it is.” says the Namcoator. “Anyways, here is the trophy.” He presents Jackie with the  _ Dig Dug _ trophy, which features Pooka. She takes it and admires it.

“Well then,” Gus begins. “Let’s get onto the next challenge.”


	11. Mappy

"Of course." the Namcoator replies. "The tenth challenge is the _Mappy_ challenge. Gus Wilde will be undertaking this challenge."

Gus nods. "Let's do this!"

The Namcoator snaps his fingers and Gus dematerialises.

* * *

We cut to what seems to be a large mansion with the walls painted a vivid red, positioned against a jet-black sky. Gus materialises in front of the building, which immediately catches his eye. "Ooo… this place looks fancy!"

"It is." he replies. "Welcome to the _Mappy_ challenge, player. Go ahead and enter the mansion, and I will bring myself into the game world to explain what's going on."

Gus walks up to the door, opens it and steps inside. The Namcoator materialises inside the building. "So what am I going to do?" Gus asks.

"Great question. I need to give a bit of context first. This game took the 'cat-and-mouse' idea of a chase game quite literally, so it had a mouse as the hero and cats as the villains."

"I see…" Gus understands. "So I'm up against villainous cats."

The Namcoator nods. He pulls out a piece of paper with two illustrations - one showing a small pink cat and another showing a large red one. "The red cat is called Goro, and the pink cats are the Meowkies - his lackeys. They've been stealing goods from around town and hiding them in this mansion. Your goal is to retrieve all of the stolen goods across 15 rounds."

"Got it. So I'm basically a policeman?" Gus assumes.

"Yes you are - and that's what the mouse was in the game." the Namcoator responds. "However, you won't be able to make any arrests - this is a solo mission. You need to get in, fetch the goods, and get out."

"Understood." says Gus. "But I see the mansion has multiple floors. Hope will I get between them? I don't see a single staircase or elevator..."

"The answer to that is a bit more creative. Do you see that hole in the floor?" The Namcoator motions over to a gap in the floor that Gus was unaware of until now. Walking over, the blonde boy sees that a blue trampoline is stretched over the gap.

"Is that a trampoline?" Gus questions, confused. "What is a trampoline doing here?"

The Namcoator shrugs. "Apparently the cats use these trampolines to get between the different stories. You will be doing the same thing. Why don't you have a go?"

"Okay then." Gus takes a deep breath and leaps onto the trampoline. His weight depresses the fabric sheet, and soon the springs recoil and send him flying into the air. Gus then throws his body forward and lands on another floor.

"Alright, I think I've got that figured out."

"Do be aware that you can only bounce on a trampoline three times in a row before it breaks, although the durability will reset every time you land."

"Mmhmm."

"Another tool you have at your disposal are the doors. There are two types of doors - standard doors and flashing doors."

Gus notes the door in front of him is a standard wooden door with the word "PULL". He walks up to it, grabs the doorknob and pulls the door open. "Got that down."

Jumping off the floor, Gus bounces on the trampoline and lands on another floor of the masnion, where he sees a door flashing between pink and cyan. "This door looks fancy."

"Indeed. When opened, flashing doors will emit a wave will sweep away any cats it catches and award you points for each of them."

Gus decides to test the flashing door. He opens it and a red, green and blue WiFi symbol-like wave flies out, past him and down the corridor. "I see."

* * *

After a bit more explaining, Gus, now standing at the bottom-right corner of the mansion, feels he is ready. "Call me ready!" he exclaims.

"And ready you are." the Namcoator replies. "The _Mappy_ challenge shall now commence!"

The _Mappy_ intro jingle plays.

NOW ON TO THE STORY

GUS WILDE - READY!

As soon as Gus is released from the 'freeze' at the beginning of the round, he dashes forward to seize a television, before bouncing on the trampoline and ascending to the top floor. Opening the flashing door to sweep away the cats behind him, Gus grabs a radio before bouncing on the rightmost trampoline and seizing a safe on the third floor.

The boy then travels to the ground floor to collect a computer before gathering up the other radio on the second floor. The Meowkies are proving persistent in chasing him, but Gus doesn't let this cloud his mind as he bounces on a trampoline and collects the other television on the third floor.

The next item he collects is a painting on the fourth floor. The boy then leaps down to the ground floor to gather the three remaining items - but first he waits by one of the flashing doors for the cats to draw closer before he opens it and sweeps them all away, earning 600 points. He then dashes in to collect the three remaining items. The other painting is first, followed by the other safe, and then the other computer.

As soon as Gus collects the other computer the cats disappear, and after a few seconds the round clear jingle plays. "Alright, First round done!" Gus cheers to himself.

"Indeed." The Namcoator replies. "I shall now transport you to the second mansion."

* * *

Jackie is watching Gus complete one of the challenging stages. Just before the music ends Gus breaks through the final trampoline and bursts the large blue balloon, releasing Goro and ending the round. His score is tallied up - the red balloons give him 3,000 points, the Goro balloon gives him 2,000 and he also has a perfect bonus of 5,000, making 10,000 points altogether. Then, he spawns in the next mansion, and starts to complete it.

"How is it that these games are so creative?" Jackie wonders.

"I suppose it was to try and gain an advantage over other gaming companies of the time such as Atari and Taito." the Namcoator explains. "You wouldn't wanna be stuck shooting aliens 24/7, right? Get some other games out there for diversity, if you know what I mean."

"Understandable." Jackie confers. "Why was the mouse called Mappy, anyway?"

"It's from mappo, a slightly insulting Japanese slang term for a policeman.

"Okay then." Jackie states. "But why an insulting term?"

The Namcoator shrugs. "Don't know."

"Oh." Jackie then turns back to the monitor to cheer Gus on.

* * *

Fifteen rounds have come and gone. Gus opens a flashing door to sweep away the cats hot on his tail and then collects a painting, the final object of this round. The cats freeze and disappear, and the round clear jingle plays.

"That's it! Fifteen rounds done!" Gus declares.

"Well done player!" the Namcoaotr replies. "You have completed the _Mappy_ challenge! You know the drill - allow me to recall you so you may receive your trophy!"

Gus dematerialises, leaving the mansion empty.

* * *

Jackie's boyfriend rematerialises inside the monitor room, where the Namcoator already has the _Mappy_ trophy prepared, showing Mappy himself. Gus takes it and admires it for a few seconds, before placing it on the trophy shelf along with the others.

"That got surprisingly hectic." Gus comments.

"Yeah." Jackie agrees.

The Namcoator nods. "Indeed. Are you ready for the next challenge?"


	12. Rally-X

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll admit. I was supposed to have the Namcoator change Gus into a police uniform like Mappy wore for the previous chapter, but that slipped my mind. Oopsie.

"I sure am!" Jackie exclaims. For whatever reason neither of them have commented on the fact that Gus and Jackie have been taking turns with the challenges, but they seem to be acknowledging it.

"Glad to see you are enthusiastic, Jackie." The Namcoator replies, smiling. "The eleventh challenge is the _Rally-X_ challenge, which you will be undertaking."

"So what's happening? What am I doing?"

"We shall find out." The Namcoator snaps his fingers and Jackie dematerialises.

* * *

We cut to what seems to be a massive maze. The walls of this maze are made out of hedges, as is the outer boundary. The ground is made out of compacted sand, and there is no ceiling - the maze is open to the sky. This maze is somewhat like the Pac-Man maze in that there is no defined entrance or exit and there are no dead-ends. At a point along the bottom edge Jackie rematerialises. She takes a look around.

"I'm in a maze again… is this just _Pac-Man_ all over again?" Jackie questions.

The Namcoator stalls for a second to decide what to say. "There are a couple of similarities, I'll concede that, but this game is pretty different from _Pac-Man_ upon closer inspection. But I say we not waste any time. You will not be walking, but rather driving."

"Driving… So I'm in a car like in _Pole Position II_?" Jackie deduces.

"Yes, but this car is quite different from the one you used. Turn around."

Jackie turns around, seeing her vehicle. This car is painted blue, like the one she used in the _Pole Position II_ challenge, but it's a lot smaller, only having room for Jackie herself, and lacks the aerofoil wings. Jackie duly hops in and buckles up, but to her surprise, there is no steering wheel! Instead, the controls consist of a two-way joystick, a grey button with a cloud symbol next to the joystick, a black electronic display on the other side and a fuel gauge above all that.

Jackie scratches her head. "There's no steering wheel. How am I going to control this thing?"

"Well," the Namcoator explains, "this car is semi-autonomous. It can drive by itself, and the joystick is simply there to help you tell it which way to go at an intersection."

"That explains the lack of steering wheel, but what's the grey button and display for?"

"To understand that, I need to explain what you will be doing in this challenge. Are you listening?"

"I am."

"Good. Allow me to begin. There are ten yellow flags scattered at random points in this maze. Your goal is to collect all ten of them throughout 15 rounds."

"Gotcha…"

"Collecting each flag will earn you an increasing number of points, but one flag has a red 'S' on it. This 'Special Flag' will award you double the points from collecting flags until you die or the round is cleared."

"Uh huh."

"Your main obstacle will be a group of red cars that will chase you around the maze, and a number of stationary rocks - collision with either will cost a life."

"Seems reasonable…"

"Pressing the grey button will deploy a smokescreen which will stun the red cars. Beware - they are still harmful even when stunned!"

"I see…"

"Do remember to keep an eye on your fuel gauge, depleted by both driving and the smokescreen - it that runs out, you won't actually die immediately, but the red cars will quickly sort you out."

"Don't understand why you don't just immediately lose a life, but go on."

"At the end of a round, you will be given bonus points depending on how much fuel you have left when the last flag is collected."

"Of course something like that would be present."

"One last thing. That display to the left of the joystick will show you your position, the position of the red cars and the position of the flags. Think of it as a radar of sorts."

"That'll be helpful. Alright, I think I've got it from here. Let the challenge commence!"

"Very well, The _Rally-X_ challenge shall now commence!"

The _Rally-X_ start jingle plays.

JACKIE JOHNSON - READY!

Jackie's radar shows that the first flag was behind her, so just after she starts moving she turns right and proceeds down an empty path to it, collecting it just as the red cars start moving. She then proceeds up the right edge where she collects the second flag. She proceeds left for the third flag before turning down for the fourth.

She turns up for the next flag, which turns out to be the Special Flag. The sixth flag is on the other side of the maze, as is the seventh. "Just three left…" Jackie thinks.

After a quick trip to the bottom-right corner for the eighth flag, Jackie sees in her rear vision that the two red cars chasing her are gaining on her, so she hits the grey button, a cloud of smoke erupting from her exhaust and enveloping the red cars, causing them to spin out. "Pretty slick defence," Jackie comments as she picks up the ninth flag.

She turns into a loop for the final flag, and following a scape with collision with a red car manages to snag it. She has about a quarter of her fuel left. "Round clear!" Jackie exclaims as the fuel bonus points are tallied up.

"Round clear indeed!" says the Namcoator. "I shall now transport you to the second round!"

* * *

Gus is watching is girlfriend on the monitor as she streaks through round seven. She has died a couple times, but that isn't stopping her.

"Jackie seems to be a natural at this! Although it is pretty similar to Pac-Man…" Gus comments.

The Namcoator chuckles. "Funny you should make that comparison… I've got a bit of a story to tell with those two games."

Gus looks at the Namcoator with a expression of intrigue.

"Rally-X appeared in a trade show in 1980 alongside _Pac-Man_ , Atari game _Battlezone_ and Williams Electronics game _Defender_. The traders at that show believed that _Rally-X_ would be the big hit."

"And needless to say, they were wrong?" Gus deduces.

"Of course, they were wrong. Very, very wrong. That doesn't mean Rally-X is bad, but some people found it quite tricky, so its 1981 sequel, New Rally-X, was intentionally made easier. This sequel proved to be more popular in Japan than the original."

"Okay then." says Gus. He turns back to the screen and silently cheers Jackie on.

* * *

Jackie is now racing towards the final flag on round 15. This is a challenging stage, so the red cars are not moving. Upon collecting it, she freezes in position. "That's challenging stage four done!" she declares.

"Well done player! That was the fifteenth round, which means you have cleared the Rally-X challenge! Let's get you that trophy!"

The Namcoator snaps his fingers and Jackie materialises, leaving the car empty.

* * *

Jackie rematerialises in the monitor room, where the Namcoator has the _Rally-X_ trophy prepared, showing the Special Flag. Jackie takes it.

"Is it just me, or did this flag appear in other games? It looks familiar."

The Namcoator nods. "It did, as a matter of fact. It appeared in _Xevious_ , where it granted you an extra life, and in _Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U_ , where it did the same thing."

"I see."

"What's the next challenge?" Gus pipes up.


	13. Bosconian

"I'm glad you asked, Gus." says the Namcoator. "The twelfth challenge is the _Bosconian_ challenge. You will be undertaking this challenge."

"Got it! But what am I doing?" questions Gus.

"You'll be shooting aliens, a little bit like in the _Galaxian_ challenge, but _Bosconian_ offers a different take on the formula. You will see what that is shortly enough." The Namcoator snaps his fingers and Gus dematerialises.

* * *

Once more, we cut to deep space. Once more, there is a lone starfighter. This one looks similar to the _Galaga_ fighter, but it has a more simplified profile with no blue sections, and an additional gun mounted on its exterior pointing backwards. Gus rematerialises inside the cockpit and takes a look around. "This looks pretty similar to the ship I used in the _Galaxian_ challenge." he comments.

"I guess you could say that…" The Namcoator replies over the intercom, "but this ship is a little bit more advanced. Have a seat at the controls and I will tell you more." Gus walks over and climbs into the pilots' seat, strapping himself in. He takes a look at the controls. The steering lever for this ship seems to have more room to move. There is also a rectangular electronic display to the left of the steering lever.

"So this thing steers similarly to the _Galaxian_ ship, yes?"

"It steers similarly, but you've got a lot more control over this thing than the Galaxip. It can move in eight directions, rather than just left and right!"

"Okay then. Can I try piloting this thing?" Gus requests.

"Alright then. Let me know when you've got the hang of it!" the Namcoator states.

Gus turns his attention to the steering lever. He pulls it to the left and the ship's side thrusters flare to life, turning it around. After getting to grips with this he tries piloting the ship forward, which works quite well. Next he presses the button to fire and a white energy blast shot out of the gun's turret, flying off into the distance.

"Works like a charm!" Gus declares.

"Oh, yeah!" the Namcoator quickly adds. "This ship has two guns, so you can fire both forward and backward!"

"Sweet!" says Gus.

* * *

After a couple of minutes practicing steering and firing the gun, Gus has mastered the ship's ins and outs. "Okay, I've got the hang of this! When's the challenge starting?"

"It will start soon," the Namcoator replies, "but first I need to tell you what exactly you will be doing. I want you to pay attention to the display for now, it'll show what I'm talking about."

"Of course!" says Gus.

"Let us begin with the explanation. This region of space has eight enemy bases, and your goal in the _Bosconian_ challenge is to find all eight and destroy them!"

An enemy base shows up on the screen. It has the appearance of a green pipe-like structure, with six cannon orbs surrounding a central core.

"I see… They have weaknesses, right?"

"They do. To destroy a base, you have to destroy the six cannons on the outside, or you take a clean shot at the central core."

"Of course, just destroying the bases would be pretty easy. There has to be some other obstacle, right?"

"There are indeed. There will be a number of enemy missiles that will try and fly toward you. They are a bit faster than you, but your rear gun should make sure that won't be an issue."

"Got it. Anything else?"

* * *

The Namcoator's explanation has been quite long-winded and filled with things such as missiles, spy ships, colour conditions and alerts. Gus is not sure how he has been able to understand all of this explanation, but somehow he has. Now the blonde boy believes he is ready.

"Call me ready for the challenge." he proclaims.

"Very well." says the Namcoator. "The _Bosconian_ challenge shall now commence!"

The _Bosconian_ start jingle plays.

GUS WILDE - READY!

Gus took a look at his display. It currently showed three bases. "This should be easy." he thought.

The first base happens to be just in front of him, making his job fairly easy. Carefully lining himself up with the base's core. Gus takes a shot at it. The shot flies into the core, causing it to overload and explode, destroying the base. "Nice!" he mutters.

The second base is close by. A quick trip over and a shot to the core is enough to take care of it. The third base is a little further away, so Gus duly begins piloting the ship towards it, using its gun to clear out any asteroids or Cosmo-Mines in his path. Another shot later, and the third base is destroyed.

"Round clear. That was easy." Gus thinks.

"That's the first round clear!" the Namcoator announces. "Allow me to transport you to the second round!"

* * *

"ALARM! ALARM!"

"SPY SHIP SIGHTED!"

"BATTLE STATIONS!"

Jackie has become used to hearing these phrases throughout the course of the challenge. Gus has proven himself to be master at this challenge, zipping through space and plowing through the enemy bases. She turns to the Namcoator.

"I must admit, this looks quite a bit more fun than _Galaga_ is." she admits.

"I share your opinion." says the Namcoator. "It's too bad _Bosconian_ never gained a large following outside of Japan. A good number of _Bosconian_ cabinets were converted into _Galaga_ cabinets because of that, which is kind of a shame because I find Bosconian an underrated gem."

"Yeah, a shame. Only problem is that those audio cues can get annoying. Plus, is it saying 'Alert! Alert!' or 'Align! Align!'?"

"Neither, actually. It's 'Alarm! Alarm!'. This was one of the first game to have audio voice clips like this, so it doesn't surprise that they're… not of the best quality."

"Oh well." Jackie then turns back to the screen and cheers Gus on.

* * *

A massive explosion covers Gus's field of vision as the final enemy base's core overloads and explodes, sending pieces of metal in all directions, but with skillful dodging Gus is able to avoid all of them.

"There! That's the fifteenth round complete! I've cleared this challenge!" Gus proclaims.

"Indeed. The _Bosconian_ challenge is indeed clear, player. Let's get you your trophy."

The Namcoator snaps his fingers and Gus dematerialises, leaving the ship's cockpit empty.

* * *

Gus rematerialises in the monitor room, where the Namcoator has the _Bosconian_ trophy presented, showing one of the enemy bases. Gus takes it and begins admiring it.

"Can I say that that was my favourite space experience by far?" Gus asks.

"You can say that." the Namcoator permits. Gus walks over to the trophy shelf and puts up the _Bosconian_ trophy.

Jackie stretches. "We're almost done, right?"

The Namcoator nods. "Yes. Only three challenges remain."

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's begin the next challenge!"


	14. Motos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AUTHOR NOTE: It took me a while to decide which game to write about for this chapter. I considered Dig Dug II, The Tower of Druaga and Motos for this chapter, but I ultimately decided on Motos because The Tower of Druaga feels too much like a fantasy Pac-Man, and I only want to write one more sequel which I'm saving for the penultimate chapter.

The Namcoator chuckles. "I wonder where your enthusiasm came from, Jackie. Man, I'm going to miss you and Gus once both of you are gone. Anyways, the thirteenth challenge is the _Motos_ challenge, which you will be undertaking."

"Did you say 'motor'?" Jackie asks, having misheard what the Namcoator said.

"No, I really did mean 'Motos'." the latter clarifies. "I'd better get you to the playing field. He snaps his fingers and Jackie dematerialises.

* * *

Once Jackie rematerialises and opens her eyes, she's greeted by an interesting sight. The sky is jet black with white dots peppering Jackie's surroundings. She is standing on a large flat rectangular platform, its surface a grid of square tiles alternating in colour between teal and a dull lavender. At one of the far edges sit a pair of red spherical Pupa enemies, currently stationary.

"Where even is this place, anyway?" she wonders.

The Namcoator's voice sounds out from an intercom in the sky. "I'll admit, not even I am sure where this is. All I know is that once again, you are in a car. I promise this will be the last time you are in a car. Turn around."

Jackie turns around, seeing the mentioned car. However this one looks drastically different from the others. It looks more like a bumper car, the sort she would find at an amusement park, with blue bumpers and a red stripe down the centre.

Jackie walks up to it. "Is it me, or is this a bumper car?" she questions.

"Yes, actually." says the Namcoator. "Hop in and I'll tell you more."

Jackie hops in and buckles herself up.

"Alright then. This bumper car is called Motos."

"Okay then. So what's happening?"

"Your goal in the _Motos_ challenge is to bump a number of enemies off of the playing field across 62 rounds."

"62!? That's a lot!" Jackie spat upon this revelation.

"It is, but don't worry. You'll be allowed to take breaks every 15 rounds."

"Okay then. So you said I have to bump enemies off the edge?"

"Pretty much. But that's easier said than done when they are trying to do the same to you."

"Seems fair."

"There are also power-ups you can collect across the stages that will increase your bumping power or give you the ability to jump over gaps."

"Those should be useful."

"Do be careful however. Jumping on a tile will cause it to crack, and landing on a cracked tile will shatter it, most probably sending you plummeting to your doom!"

"Alright, I'll be careful."

"Also,if you take too long on a stage, meteors will start raining down to crack the tiles."

"Anything else?"

"That's basically it. Only thing left is to show you how to control Motos."

* * *

One explanation later, Jackie feels she is ready. "Alright, I am ready."

"Very well. Let the Motos challenge commence!"

The Motos round start jingle plays.

JACKIE JOHNSON - READY!

After a few seconds the Pupas begin moving towards Jackie, who does likewise, but since they are both only 380 kg each - light by Motos standards, Jackie easily forces them both over the edge. The round clear jingle plays.

"That was fast." she notes.

"Yeah, it is fast. This is why I wanted you to do all 62 rounds - they can go by pretty quickly, so if you only did 15 this challenge would be over in a flash!" Jackie's vision then turns white as she is transported to the second round.

The second round sees Jackie prepare to face three 380-kg Blue Pupas and a 400-kg Polar. 2 stationary Beacons are also present. It doesn't help the enemies much, however - Jackie first eliminates the Beacons, and then lures the enemies over to the edge of the field and knocks them off.

* * *

Jackie is now on round 29, bumping against a huge Giga enemy. She is making progress in pushing it off, albeit very slowly. Gus turns to the Namcoator.

"How heavy is that thing again?"

The Namcoator thought for a second. "13,400 kilograms."

"So, pretty heavy." Gus extrapolates.

"Pretty heavy, but only about one-seventh the mass of a large dinosaur."

"I see."

Gus then turns to the monitor and begins cheering Jackie on - albeit clearly doing it to the tune of the music, which he clearly finds catchy.

* * *

Sixty-nine rounds have come and gone, and Jackie has just forced the last Giga over to the edge of the field. After one last bump, it teeters on the edge for a second and then tips over, plummeting off the edge of the field. Jackie watches as it disappears into the void the platform is in.

"That's round 62 done. Challenge clear!"

"Well done, player! You have cleared the _Motos_ challenge!" says the Namcoator. Not wasting any time announcing the trophy, he snaps his fingers and Jackie dematerialises.

* * *

Back in the monitor room Jackie rematerialises to see the _Motos_ trophy, featuring the Motos bumper car. Jackie takes the trophy and begins admiring it.

"So what's the next challenge?" asks Gus.

"Well, since only two challenges remain - one for each of you - you only have one challenge left each to prove yourself as Namco masters. For the final two challenges, you will be revisiting what you did in earlier challenges!"

"So are we doing those challenges again?" Gus questions.

"No. You will be going through challenges whose games added more to the basic formulae."

"I see… so what's my final challenge?"


	15. Pac-Mania

"The fourteenth challenge is the _Pac-Mania_ challenge. You, Gus Wilde, will be undertaking this challenge, and as you have already figured out this will be the final challenge you will undertake." the Namcoator explains.

"So what does _Pac-Mania_ have over _Pac-Man_?" Gus inquires.

"You shall see." the Namcoator snaps his fingers and Gus dematerialises.

* * *

We cut to a maze similar to the _Pac-Man_ and _Ms. Pac-Man_ mazes, albeit this one looks very different. The walls appear to be made out of large LEGO bricks, either white, blue or red in colour. The floor is made up of standard size LEGO bricks, dark green in colour. The entire maze is open to the sky. Gus materialises and takes a look around. "What's LEGO doing in a _Pac-Man_ game?" he wonders.

"Welcome to the _Pac-Mania_ challenge, player." the Namcoator announces over the intercom. "This challenge is very much like the _Pac-Man_ challenge, with one key difference - you can jump!"

"Oooo… that should make evading ghosts easier!"

"It should. But first, I need to change your shoes into something that can help you jump high."

A bright white light bathes Gus's shoes for a second, and when he looks down he sees that his typical white shoes have been replaced with a pair of yellow spring sneakers with black Pac-Men on the side.

"Lookin' good." he comments.

"Why don't you try leaping now?" the Namcoator suggests.

Gus promptly bends his legs and then quickly straightens them as he throws his body upwards. To his amazement, the springs within his new shoes are able to help propel him to a distance about three times his own body height! A smile grows on his face as he lands.

"Now that's an awesome feature!" he proclaims. "Any other differences?"

The Namcoator gives a quick explanation of the special bonus pellets. "You know the other goals right?"

"Of course! Eat dots, avoid ghosts, pop a power pellet and down the hatch!"

"Alright then! Your goal is to clear all four worlds of the game! With that, I say we waste no time! Let the _Pac-Mania_ challenge commence!"

* * *

A film reel is shown, showing a background consisting of a single lane.

WELCOME TO PACMAN'S WORLD.

LET'S HAVE FUN WITH GUS WILDE.

NOW, LET'S GO TO BLOCK TOWN.

Gus enters from the left and makes his way over to the right, jumping merrily to his heart's content. Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde are following him, watching him as he ascends and descends.

* * *

GUS WILDE - READY!

Gus immediately starts by rounding a corner and proceeding downwards along the bottom edge of the maze. Just as he reaches the bottom-right corner of the maze Clyde comes into view, followed by Sue and Blinky, but with some careful negotiation he is able to leap over them.

"Wow, this jumping feature is awesome!" Gus thinks as he clears out the pellets above the ghost pen. Turning down, he notices a cherry has spawned in the bonus corridor below the pen. "Don't mind if I do." says as he snags it.

Next Gus decides to reverse and proceed down one of the S-shaped corridors towards an energiser. Upon Gus consuming it, all of the ghosts turn the same shade of dark blue, are given a white jagged mouth, reverse direction and move more slowly. "Yum yum!" he exclaims as he turns around and begins chasing Pinky up the same corridor he came for the energiser from.

He captures her under the ghost pen before turning down to capture Inky and clearing out the other S-shaped corridor and capturing Clyde. Gus leaps over the energiser in his path, wanting to save it for later. He sees that a pink double-point pellet has appeared in the bonus corridor, so he turns up to eat it, turning the ghosts blue again, before swiftly managing to capture Sue and Inky before the time expires.

Gus then turns down and finishes off the bottom half of the maze, save for the energiser he skipped. Turning up to clear the left side of the maze, he eats another energiser before proceeding to eat Pinky, a cherry and Sue. Clyde just barely manages to avoid getting eaten, but it's not much luck - Gus consumes the energiser he skipped and chomps him down as well, also capturing Sue, Blinky and Inky in the process.

It only takes a few more seconds for Gus to eat all of the pellets he has missed so far. As soon as the final one enters his mouth, the ghosts freeze as a crowd applause sound rings out.

"Alright! Round clear!"

"Round clear indeed! You shall now advance to the next world!"

Jackie watches fascinated as Gus clears out the first round of Pac-Man's Park. "I reckon the jumping makes this game a bit too easy, wouldn't you say?" Jackie suggests.

"I wouldn't count my chickens if I were you." the Namcoator cautions. "Some of the ghosts are going to start jumping themselves soon."

"Can that be avoided?" Jackie questions.

The Namcoator thinks for a second. "Well, green ghosts can be avoided if you time it very precisely, while grey ghosts can't be avoided altogether."

"I see."

"That, and due to the way the screen doesn't show all of the maze it gives opportunities for ghosts to sneak up on you."

"I take it back. This isn't too easy at all." Jackie recants. She begins silently cheering Gus on.

* * *

**INTERMISSION ONE:**

WELCOME TO PACMAN'S PARK.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

IT'S THE PACMAN THEATRE!

Two blue ghosts appear from the right, and Gus chases them off-screen. A second or so later, he reappears from the left leaping away from something as if his life depends on it - that something turns out to be a massive crowd of standard-colour ghosts who chase him off screen.

**INTERMISSION TWO:**

FUNKYS AT PLAY.

BE CAREFUL!

BEWARE OF JUMPING MONSTERS!

A light red-coloued path is laid out in a field of green grass. Gus appears from the left leaping along, trailed by a chain of green and gray ghosts alternating jumps.

**INTERMISSION THREE:**

LET'S GO TO JUNGLY STEPS.

YOU'D BETTER WATCH OUT…

ANYWAY, THE SHOW MUST GO ON!

Gus appears from the left leaping away from something as if his life depends on it - that something turns out to be a massive crowd of standard-colour ghosts who chase him off screen, albeit faster than in Intermission One. A second later, he reappears from the top being chased by a massive crowd of blue ghosts, one of which is much larger than the others.

* * *

The crowd cheers out once more as Gus consumes the final pellet in Jungly Steps. The ghost freze as Gus's surroundings turn sepia.

"Alright! That's the seventh round done!"

"Congratulations player! You've completed the four worlds, and with that the Pac-Mania challenge is clear! But, the show must go on! Allow me to recall you so you may receive your trophy!"

Gus dematerialises.

* * *

Back in the monitor room Gus remtaerialises and is greeted with the _Pac-Mania_ trophy, which depicts Pac-Man jumping. "So that's fourteen shiny trophies for us altogether…" he says as he takes the new trophy and admires it.

Jackie stretches. "So, there's only one challenge left before we are done?"

"That is correct. Clear this final challenge and you will be declared masters of all of Namco's classic titles, big or small."

Jackie narrows her eyes and smiles. "Let's do this. Hit me with the final challenge."


	16. Galaga '88

The Namcoator draws in a deep breath. "And the final challenge you shall receive. Jackie Johnson…

the fifteenth challenge,

the final challenge you shall undertake,

and the final challenge overall…

Is the _Galaga '88_ challenge."

Jackie nods. "So I guess I'm going into space one last time?"

"You are. Buckle up - a lot more is in store for you." The Namcoator snaps his fingers and Jackie dematerialises.

* * *

As soon as Jackie has finished rematerialising, she takes a look around. She now seems to be in what seems like a launchpad for ships like those in the _Galaga_ challenge. It has all sorts of features: a runway, a control tower and a maintenance station. As she takes in all of this, the Namcoator's voice sounds out over the intercom:

"Greetings, player. Welcome to the _Galaga '88_ challenge. As the name suggests, _Galaga '88_ was a sequel to _Galaga_ and so it builds on the formula established by the original. Mainly, you will be travelling between dimensions!"

"Sounds fascinating. How do I do that?"

"Well, player, sometimes the enemies in this game will merge together. When this happens, a blue capsule will be spawned for you to collect. If you can collect two by the end of a bonus stage, you will advance to a new dimension!"

"I see. Anything else?"

"Double fighters can be captured in this game. If you rescue one, you can obtain a triple fighter, the most powerful fighter available!"

"Got it."

"As I said, some enemies can combine, and others will split into smaller enemies when attacked!"

"Uh-huh. Anything else?"

"That's all there is. There are 29 stages in the game, your goal is to make it to the last stage and defeat the final boss. There are also five dimensions to visit; I'd like to see you try and reach the fifth. Now before you start, you may choose between a single or dual fighter to start with. Which shall it be?"

Jackie takes a second to examine her options. "I think I will go with a single fighter."

"Alright then. There is a single fighter waiting behind you."

Turning around, Jackie sees her ship. It looks similar to the _Galaga_ fighter, albeit with a wider fuselage and a large round cockpit. After the Namcoator helps her climb in, she pulls a lever in her direction to activate the engines.

"Ready when you are. Press the launch button to begin the _Galaga '88_ challenge!"

Jackie draws in a breath to calm herself. "Let the challenge begin!"

Jackie slams her fist down on the button. The ship's engines roar and the ship blasts off into space as the _Galaga '88_ intro jingle plays.

JACKIE JOHNSON - READY!

Soon enough the engines calm down and Jackie settles into a stable speed. "Now where are those aliens…?"

Speaking of the devil, a group of orange Zakos swoop in and begin firing shots at Jackie, She responds by unleashing a barrage of countershots from her ship's gun, which succeed in taking down a number of the Zakos. Then, a line of butterfly-like Goei and round Dons make a large loop-the-loop before assembling into formation, albeit having taken casualties due to Jackie.

The Boss Galagas are next to arrive, supported by more Goei. Avoiding the shots, Jackie uses this time to whittle away at the left side of the formation.

Next a line of Goei and Dons arrive escorted by a yellow Hiyoko. They mostly survive, however two of the Boss Galagas are left damaged and orange. The Hiyoko swiftly withdraws from the scene before Jackie can shoot it.

Another Hiyoko escorts the final line of Zakos and Dons. By now the formation is complete, albeit with quite a few holes. The aliens begin the bombing runs; the Zakos and Dons taking the initiative, although Jackie sees to it that not many of them reach halfway down the screen.

Two of the Goei fly together and merge into a large Goei, which begins making a zig-zag dive. It takes Jackie three hits to kill, and as soon as it explodes a blue capsule is released which Jackie grabs.

"These are the blue capsules I was told about…" Jackie wonders. "If I remember correctly, I have to collect two of these by a bonus stage to advance to another dimension…"

Refocusing herself, Jackie continues firing until all of the enemies have been defeated.

"Alright! That's the first stage clear!"

"Indeed!" the Namcoator replies.

Jackie's ship speeds up as it accelerates to the second dimension.

* * *

Jackie has been enjoying the first challenging stage so far; shooting at enemies while listening to a nice tune. But everything has to end eventually. The last set of enemies is killed, and the music ends.

"Alright, bonus stage is over!" the Namcoator announces.

The perfect jingle plays. "Well done player! You have achieved the perfect bonus of 10,000 points!" the Namcoator explains are fireworks explode.

"Heh. My aim has been getting better."

"Indeed. Now since you have two blue capsules, you may advance to the second dimension!"

The two blue capsules fly in front of Jackie and are engulfed in a quick flash of white light, which also rips open a tear in the space-time continuum. Jackie swiftly accelerates through this tear and enters the second dimension.

* * *

Gus is watching Jackie in the third dimension plowing through the enemies. He turns to the Namcoator.

"I'm guessing this game was released in 1988." Gus notes.

"Well, only in North America." the Namcoator explains. "In Japan, _Galaga '88_ was released in December 1987. However by that point 1987 would be almost over, so most people would see the game in 1988. Naming is weird like that."

"Okay. This is a sequel to _Galaga_ , right?"

"Yes, but it's not the first sequel. This is the fourth game in the _Galaxian_ series, the third game being 1984's _Gaplus_ , which let you capture enemies to use as extra firepower."

"Sounds cool. I wonder why more games haven't tried that."

"I wonder too."

Gus begins silently cheering Jackie on.

* * *

A huge series of explosions rack the final boss's body before it explodes, scattering it's body parts in all directions and awarding Jackie 400,000 points. She feels suprised that she managed to pull this off. She hitches a breath.

"Well then. I have completed the final challlenge."

"Indeed. Allow me to recall you."

The Namcoator snaps his fingers and Jackie dematerialises.

* * *

Back in the monitor room, Jackie rematerialises to see the _Galaga '88_ trophy, featuring a triple fighter. Jackie is allowed to admire it for fifteen seconds and then put it away.

"Well then." the Namcoator begins. "With the _Galaga '88_ challenge clear, you have cleared all fifteen challenges. You've done a lot. Avoided deadly ghosts. Fought off swarms of aliens. Raced in cars. Saved my vegetable garden. Even battled villanous cats. I believe there is one last thing for me to do."

He makes a "follow me" gesture with his hand. "Please follow me."


	17. Returning to the Real World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This final chapter was written by TheLoudArtist15. Many thanks to you, my friend!

The Namcoator leads Gus and Jackie to a room covered in all white. The walls, the ceiling, the floor. All of it is covered in pure, bright white. It is so white that staring at it for too long can cause one's eyes to hurt a little.

"What is this place?" Gus asked the Namcoator, looking around the hall in complete awe as well as Jackie.

"This is the Namco Master Room," replies the Namcoator, "a room where I declare those who complete the challenges Namco Masters."

"Ah."

"Why don't you both stand there?" Namcoator points to a rectangular block half a foot higher than the floor. As told, Gus and Jackie stand on the block and face the Namcoator.

The Namcoator then brings out his arms and a glowing light appears above his hands. Gus and Jackie watch in confusion as the Namcoator conjures two pixelated crowns. One crown consists of small Pac-Men in the place of jewels, and the other consists of the starships from _Galaga_. The Namcoator then proceeds to place the crowns on Gus and Jackie's head. The kids look at their crowns and admire them.

"Player Gus and Player Jackie," the Namcoator begins, "both have impressed me with your gaming abilities. You both munched on ghosts, destroyed hostile alien ships, and raced to the finish. Thou are the first players I've ever seen, and thou managed to impress me. With all that stated, I declare thou both Namco Masters!"

Soon, pixelated confetti begins raining down on our heroes. Both Gus and Jackie truly felt like kings being crowned for the first time.

After the short celebration, Namcoator states, "Any final words before I send you both back?"

"Will we ever see each other again?" Jackie asked, getting a little sad.

"I am not sure," the Namcoator replies, "but only time will tell."

Jackie smiled at his response.

"See ya later, Namcoator!" Gus bids goodbye.

"Hasta la vista, my young masters!" states the Namcoator. "Get out there and make many people proud!"

He then snaps his fingers, and Gus and Jackie dissolve into pixels.

* * *

Back in the real world at the arcade, the Namco game cabinet lay dominant as the other cabinets are occupied by young gamers. Suddenly, a group of pixels appear in front of the huge cabinet, and they reassemble to form Gus and Jackie.

"Wow," the kids uttered.

"Phew! What a day!" Gus cheered.

"You can say that again!" agreed Jackie.

"I got a question: should we tell our friends about the awesomeness we've been through?"

"Let's not."

"Why not?!"

"C'mon, Gusie. Who would believe us if we told them we've been on starships and fought aliens?"

"You got a point," admitted Gus. "Anyway, what would you like to do?"

"How about we go to your place and play some video games?" suggests Jackie.

"Crazy how you're now into video games. When we first came here, you were all snarky every time I mentioned about us playing arcade games together."

"I know, but after playing those games the Namcoator told us to play, I get siked whenever anyone mentions video games. Now how about I challenge you to a game of race?"

"You are so on, my love." Gus then gives Jackie a kiss on the cheek. The kids hold hands, and they set off into the streets of Royal Woods and head to Gus' home.

**THE END**


End file.
